Indian Hills falls in Semifinals in NJCAA National Tournament

The Indian Hills Warriors entered into the NJCAA Division I Tournament as the No. 5 seed (of 24) after winning the North Central District Championship over North Dakota State College of Science. 

Indian Hills took on the 21st seeded Wallace State in the second round after receiving a bye --  which ended in a 63-58 victory. Wallace State came out firing taking a 26-18 lead at the half. Indian Hills shot 27.6% from the field and was 1-10 from three in the first half. During the second half is where Indian Hills found their footing. The Warriors cashed in on five second half threes en route to scoring 45 points in the second half alone. 

Davontae Hall scored 19 points in the contest but 15 of those points came in the second half alone. ICCAC Player of the Year Trevion LaBeaux scored 12 points in the second half while going 7-8 from the charity stripe. Another contributor to the big second half comeback was Braden Sparks who scored 11 points going 4-8 from the field in the second half. With a big second half by Hall, LaBeaux, and Sparks they combined for 38 of the 45 second half points.

Indian Hills advanced to the quarterfinals and No. 13 seeded Odessa. After starting the game with both teams trading buckets throughout the first half it was a two-point Warrior lead (34-32) at the half. The first half was a good showing from TJ Morris who had 10 points in 17 minutes in the first frame of the game. 

In the second half, Indian Hills came out taking a nine-point lead with 16:20 to play. Kheni Briggs would make a three with 13:22 remaining to push the lead to 10, Indian Hills leading 48-38. Odessa would tie the game at 67 with 1:27 left in the game. Indian Hills was able to make three straight free throws to ice the game winning 74-68. Indian Hills was led by Chris Mpaka with 16 points and 17 rebounds, four rebounds being on the offensive side.

The semifinal game for Indians Hills was a tall task as they faced off against the No. 1 seed Barton. Indian Hills came into the game starting off their tournament games slow with only scoring a combined 52 points in the first half of both of their first two games. The trend continued after falling into a 40-27 hole after the first half. Leading the way for Indian Hills in the first half was Davonte Hall with nine points going 3-4 from beyond the arch.

 In the second half the Warriors would score 51 points and it was in part of a big second half from Braden Sparks. Sparks would hit three 3-point shots and move the ball for three assists in the second half alone. But the 25 points from Barton's Lajae Jones that would be the fall from Indian Hills.

The Warriors fell in the semifinals 93-78 after a hard fought second half but they could chip in to the 13 point deficit after the first half. 

The Warriors' sophomore Chris Mpaka made his way on the All-Tournament Team after a big tournament scoring 7.3 points per-game and 13.3 rebounds per-game -- including 16 points and 17 rebounds against Odessa in the quarterfinals.

Indian Hills ended their season with a 29-6 record and 4-0 in conference play.

Indian Hills (Loss in Semifinals, 2-1):

Second Round: #5 Indian Hills def. #21 Wallace State, 63-58 - Box Score

Quarterfinals: #5 Indian Hills def. #13 Odessa, 74-68 - Box Score

Semifinals: #1 Barton def. #5 Indian Hills, 93-78 - Box Score