By: Courier sports staff - Ottumwa Courier
Seventh-ranked Chipola became the first one to pose the question to the second-ranked Indian Hills basketball team.
That question was, with the game on the line in the final minutes, could IHCC do what was needed to come through in the clutch.
Quevyn Winters had the answer. The sophomore transfer from Duquesne buried a go-ahead 3-pointer with just under a minute remaining only seconds after Chipola had taken its first lead since early in the first half.
The big trey started a last-minute 9-0 run by the Warriors, who pulled out the first close win of the season with by handing No. 7 Chipola its first loss of the year. IHCC remained perfect at 9-0 with a 103-95 win over the Indians in a thriller to open men's play at the Northwest Florida State Classic.
"There were some big-time players that will be playing on TV for the next two or three years that made some big time plays," Peery said. "You had two teams really competing at a high, high level. If you would have looked at this game back in July, this is exactly the kind of game we would have expected."
Winters, who had a 21-point, 12-rebound double-double, was hardly the only Warrior player to come through with a big effort in the close win. Lester Medford produced one of two IHCC triple-doubles with a team-best 24 points, including a tiebreaking 3-pointer with less than two minutes remaining, to go along with 10 rebounds and 11 assists.
Roderick Bobbitt also had 17 points, 11 rebounds and 11 assists as Indian Hills overcame a big day from a relative of a former Warrior standout. Jamaar McKay, the younger brother of IHCC JUCO All-American Jameel, had 25 points and 10 rebounds for the Indians in a double-double performance that surely made his brother proud even if it nearly derailed the perfect season for Jameel's alma-mater.
McKay gave Chipola a huge edge in the post as IHCC played the first of two games in Florida this weekend without freshman Akolda Manyang. After leading the Warriors to win in the first road game of the season on Tuesday with a career-high 19 points, Manyang traveled to Kansas City for his uncle's funeral.
"You could feel that loss throughout the game. We've been really spoiled with that three-man rotation throughout the season in the post," Peery said. "This was the first game in some time I had to give a second thought to our foul situation. We've planned all season long rotating Akolada in that three-man post rotation. We really missed him a lot."
Manyang's absence didn't affect the superior play of the Warrior guards early on. Medford, Marcus Posley and Roosevelt Scott all hit 3-pointers on three straight possessions to produce an early 9-0 run that gave Indian Hills a 13-5 lead.
IHCC continued to grow the lead into double digits, showing signs of the same potential dominance that led the Warriors to a 22-point win at Iowa Lakes on Tuesday. An 11-3 run by Chipola, however, cut a 14-point IHCC lead down to six before six-straight points by Bobbitt helped Indian Hills take a 52-44 lead to the locker room.
"I thought we made some unbelievable extra passes," Peery said. "We made the extra passes to hit some big open shots throughout the game."
The second half saw both Indian Hills and Chipola trade big runs that lead to the Warriors seemingly gaining control of the game, only to lose it minutes earlier.
But after finally trimming into significant deficits throughout the game, Chipola finally went on a run that allowed them to catch the Warriors. Carlos Morris drilled a game-tying 3-pointer, his first of two tying buckets in the final minutes, to cap a 15-4 run that tied the game at 89-89 with less than six minutes left.
"We had what happens to every team anywhere in the country no matter who it is that's playing or coaching. Things got a little easy for us and we started gambling a little too much," Peery said. "Everyone knows I love to gamble, but we were giving up too many easy lines to the basket when we gambled like that and that's what made it close.
"They also hit some unbelievable shots. We knew that they had that ability, but they definitely hit some shots we made them earn."
Winters drove in for a go-ahead bucket for the Warriors before a pair of Chipola free throws tied the game at 91-91. After Medford's go-ahead 3-pointer, the Indians scored back-to-back buckets including a Morris basket in transition off a steal of an inbounds pass from Winters to put the Indians ahead 95-94 in the final minute.
Winters answered right back on the other end, pulling up for his third 3-poitner of the game to put IHCC up 97-95. Morris missed a 3-point look on the other end and Marcus Posley put in two free throws to give the Warriors a two possession lead with 33 seconds to go.
Bobbitt added two more free throws and a final breakaway dunk by Scott closed out the first single-digit win for the Warriors this year.
"That would have been a really tough game to bet on with the way these two teams feel about each other," Peery said. "We see Chipola's coaches out on the recruiting trail. All the players know each other so well. There's love-hate between these two programs."
No. 2 (DI) Indian Hills and No. 7 (DI) Chipola will both be on the floor at the Northwest Florida State Arena tonight. The Indians (7-1) face Volunteer State at 3:30 p.m. The Warriors, meanwhile, face the two-time national finalist Northwest Florida State on the tenth-ranked Raiders home floor tonight at 7:30 p.m.
"It'll be more of the same (from Friday), except it'll have a home crowd involved," Peery said. "The bottom line is I thought we played our game for 40 minutes to see if (Chipola) could hang with us. It's one of those high-level early season college basketball games you see all around the country. It'll be just like that (tonight)."
No. 2 INDIAN HILLS 103, No. 7 CHIPOLA 95
IHCC 52 51 — 103
Chipola 44 51 — 95
Indian Hills (103) — Lester Medford 24, Quevyn Winters 21, Roderick Bobbitt 17, Malik Dime 11, Marcus Posley 10, Roosevelt Scott 10, Majok Deng 4, Jordan Washington 4, James Harris, Jr. 2. Totals 41-76 12-18 103.
3-point goals — 9-25 (Medford 3-6, Winters 3-7). Rebounds — 47 (Winters 12). Assists — 35 (Bobbitt 11, Medford 11). Steals — 10 (Medford 5). Blocks — 8 (Dime 4). Total fouls — 20. Turnovers — 21.
Chipola (95) — Jamaar McKay 25, Torian Graham 19, Carlos Morris 17, Cinmeon Bowers 13, Sam Cassell, Jr. 11, Demetrious Flowers 6, Donte Reynolds 4. Totals 35-83 17-28 95.
3-point goals — 8-22 (Graham 3-5). Rebounds — 42 (Bowers 10, McKay 10). Assists — 29 (McKay 7). Steals — 9 (Cassell, Jr. 3). Blocks — 2 (McKay 2). Total fouls — 15 (Technicals – Bowers). Turnovers — 14.