Indian Hills 'pounds' Kirkwood in battle of NJCAA titans

CEDAR RAPIDS - There have been MMA bouts with less physicality and confrontation than what Kirkwood and Indian Hills provided on the basketball floor Wednesday night.

“I've never been a part of a game like that,” Kirkwood guard Kasey Semler said after his team dropped a 76-65 decision.

The word “decision” appropriately is in keeping with the MMA theme.

This game between NJCAA's second-ranked Division I team and its third-ranked D-II club lasted two and a half hours. That's without being on television.

It “featured” 59 personal fouls, five technical fouls, two flagrant fouls and an ejection (Indian Hills forward Michael Haynes). Kirkwood guard Preston Brunz ended up with an injured knee after being knocked hard into the padding underneath the basket on an intentional foul in the second half while going in for a layup.

In between the elbows and the pushes, the hacking and the holding, were enough points for Indian Hills to remain unbeaten (17-0).

“I thought both teams were really prepared and smacked each other a lot - literally,” said Indian Hills Coach Barret Peery. “We knew it was going to be a highly physical game. We knew they'd be ready for us.”

The teams played a two-point game at Ottumwa in early December, the closest the Indians have come to losing. They built a 39-26 halftime lead here and held off a late Kirkwood rally.

The Eagles (13-3) got within six points at the seven-minute mark and again with four to go. Not quite enough.

“That was similar to the first game, both really intense,” said Semler, the former Marion prep who had a team-high 13 points. “This one just got a little out of hand.”

Or more than a little out of hand at times. Before his knee injury, Brunz ended up on the floor doubled over in the lane after being on the receiving end of an apparent elbow from Haynes that was called a flagrant foul.

Indian Hills is long and athletic and pressures you defensively all over the court like Nolan Richardson's old Arkansas teams. It gives you absolutely no quarter.

Freshman forward Dustin Hogue was the individual difference with 18 points and 15 rebounds off the bench. Six-foot-8 freshman center Jameel McKay added 14 points, as did guard Gary Ricks Jr.

“They took us out of our game,” was all Kirkwood Coach Doug Wagemester would say.

Sophomore forward Antione Howard tied Semler with 13 points for Kirkwood, which had 27 turnovers, as did Indian Hills.

Here is the game boxscore:

AT JOHNSON HALL

INDIAN HILLS (76): DeAndray Buckley 1-2 3-3 5, Jameel McKay 4-8 6-9 14, D.J. Bennett 1-1 0-0 2, Roderick Bobbitt 3-10 6-10 12, Brandon Spearman 1-3 1-2 3, Ronnie Stevens 0-0 0-0 0, Dustin Hogue 8-13 2-3 18, Michael Haynes 2-2 0-0 4, Kieran Woods 1-5 2-7 4, Gary Ricks Jr. 3-6 5-7 14, Rawane Ndiaye 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 24-50 24-41.

KIRKWOOD (65): Antione Howard 6-13 0-0 13, Eddie Denard 2-5 0-3 4, Matt Tiby 2-7 5-5 9, Preston Brunz 1-5 1-2 3, Michael Weber 2-6 4-6 10, Dominic Wilder 0-0 0-0 0, Gage Heffernan 1-3 1-3 3, Kevin Hunter 3-7 3-3 9, Devan Douglas 1-2 1-3 3, Kasey Semler 4-11 0-0 13, Derek Witt 0-0 0-0 0, Kortney Darby 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 22-59 15-25 65.

Halftime – Indian Hills 39, Kirkwood 26. 3-point goals – Indian Hills 3-12 (Bobbitt 0-2, Spearman 0-2, Woods 0-2, Ricks Jr. 3-6), Kirkwood 6-18 (Howard 1-3, Brunz 0-2, Weber 2-5, Heffernan 0-1, Semler 3-7). Rebounds – Indian Hills 44 (Hogue 15), Kirkwood 34 (Howard, Denard 6). Total fouls – Indian Hills 29, Kirkwood 30. Fouled out – Bennett, Spearman, Howard, Denard, Hunter. Technical fouls – Haynes 2, Hogue, Howard, Kirkwood bench. Turnovers – Indian Hills 27, Kirkwood 27.

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