#12 Indian Hills Best The No. 7 Blackhawks On Braxton Bayless’ Buzzer Beater
(Feb 5, 2022) W. Burlington, IA – With the number 1 seed and home court advantage in Region 11 post season tournament on the line, #12 Indian Hills trekked the 75 miles down Hwy 34 to Loren Walker Arena. Their mission, avenge the two point loss the 7th ranked Blackhawks handed them a month ago in Ottumwa.
And, after 39:59 of combat…MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!!! Braxton Bayless went from the possible goat to hero in less than four seconds of game clock. Bayless was fouled driving to the hoop with the Warriors down two. IHCC was in the double bonus, so Bayless had two FTs.
Now with :05.2 on the clock, trailing 65-63, Braxton hit the first but missed the second, his only miss in the game from the stripe out of ten tries. The Hawks Bruce Carpenter grabbed the rebound and was immediately fouled.
Carpenter, a 68% FT shooter on the season, stepped to the line with 3.7 seconds remaining, and his team up 65-64. He, like Braxton, made the first but clanked the second, leaving the lead at two.
J’Vonne Hadley (IHCC’s leading scorer in the game) snagged the miss and started up court. After a couple of long strides and two dribbles, Hadley found Bayless streaking up the right sideline, unguarded, and hit him with a perfect pass.
Braxton had just enough time for a catch and shoot running 30 footer that just barely beat the horn. The shot hit glass, maybe a little bit of rim, but more importantly, the bottom of the net. Game over! The celebration began.
Indian Hills led the majority of the game, but neither team could lose the other. The Hills opened the game up 11-3, but in less than 3 minutes, the game was tied at 13. IHCC took a 31-29 advantage into the locker room.
The second twenty was almost a carbon copy. Both teams had leads, but the other always had an answer. In a much slower pace than the first meeting (88-86), defensive pressure and stops become a necessity. And both teams rose to the occasion.
With the win, Indian Hills climbs to 21-5, 3-1, and extended their current successful string to seven. In addition to his game high 17 points, Hadley also contribute 11 rebounds and three assists (none bigger than the third). It was J’Vonne’s eighth straight game in double figure scoring, and his third double-double of the year, all coming in the last six outings.
Bayless finished with 9 rebounds and 14 points (none bigger than the last three). Taj Anderson offered 12 points and Enoch Kalambay topped off at ten for the Warriors.
Southeastern, who dips to 19-4, 2-1, got thirteen points a piece from Gavin Kies and Carpenter. Jimmy Beane put in ten. Jesiah West, the Hawks leading scorer for the year, was held to 4 points, ten beneath his average.
The win also secures home court advantage for Indian Hills in the Region 11 post season tournament via the tie-breaker.
SCC has a region contest left at home with Marshalltown in the final game of the regular season. Regardless of that outcome, however, Southeastern will host the Tigers again on February 23rd in the #2 vs. #3 semifinals of the region championship. The winner will head to Ottumwa to face the Warriors on Saturday, Feb 26 in the title game.
With a total of three points separating IHCC and SCC in their two regular season match-ups, the third meeting, should it become reality, has to be considered nothing less than “must see TV!”
This year, the Region 11 Champions will host the North Central District Championship game vs. the Region 13 winner. Right now, the top two teams in contention up there are #22 North Dakota State College of Science and Dawson CC (MT), the reigning two time champs. NDSCS owns two victories over the Bucs during the regular season.
