Reivers Handled by Nation's 4th Ranked Team

Mal Pine and his Reiver teammates fell to the #4 Indian Hills Warriors in Ottumwa, IA Sunday (1/19) afternoon.
Mal Pine and his Reiver teammates fell to the #4 Indian Hills Warriors in Ottumwa, IA Sunday (1/19) afternoon.

Ottumwa, IA -- The Iowa Western men's basketball game against #4 ranked Indian Hills was slated for a 7:00 pm tip Saturday (1/18) evening; however due to inclement weather the game (along with all other ICCAC games) was pushed back to Sunday afternoon. Unbeknownst to the traveling Reivers was they were driving right into another storm. That storm came with raining threes and dunks as Iowa Western could never get its footing against the Warriors, dropping their conference road game 92-52.

Throughout much of the season, the Reivers have had difficulty getting out of the starting gates; and with the exception of the game's first basket, it was much the same way Sunday; as Indian Hills responded to the opening Reiver bucket with a 10-0 run.  Iowa Western battled to the within 10 points with a little over two minutes to go before the half when a final 8-0 run by the home-standing team put the Reivers in a dubious position trailing 43-24 at the turn.

Though the Reivers had come back from first-half deficits many times this season before, trailing by such a margin on a top ten ranked team's home floor proved to be a different monster; and while Iowa Western battled they could never get their high scoring offense on track, shooting just 4/22 from behind the arch. Conversely, Indian Hills netted 13 three-point baskets; marking the 9th time in the last 10 games the Warriors have made at least 12 three-point shots or more in a contest.

Only two Reivers reached double figures in scoring as Seneca Louis scored 13 points along with Caleb Huffman's 11 point effort.

Up next for Iowa Western is a return home, as they face off against #17 ranked Southeastern.  The Blackhawks are coming off an upset win over Indian Hills last Wednesday (1/15) evening in West Burlington, IA. The Reivers won their previous conference game that same Wednesday evening in Reiver Arena against Marshalltown in overtime and look for the same outcome this Wednesday (1/22) night.  Tip time from Reiver Arena is slated for 7:00 pm.