Ottumwa -- Shane Gatling kept Indian Hills in the game after they fell behind by double-digits in the second half, and Antonio "Booman" Williams and Jamel Allen allowed the Warriors to come all the way back to knock off Northern Oklahoma-Tonkawa, 83-75, at the Hellyer Center Friday night.
Indian Hills (5-0) was on the ropes, trailing 52-42 after an Amir Allen bucket for Northern Oklahoma. Gatling hit the first of his three consecutive 3-pointers to get the margin back to single digits and spark the comeback. The sophomore guard led the Warriors with 23 points and was 7-for-12 from behind the arc.
Gatling's three started IHCC on the way to a 19-7 run that included two more baskets by Gatling and goals by Jamel Allen and Williams. Allen tied the score at 59-all with a corner three and Williams put the the Warriors on top with a dunk to finish off a fast break.
Northern Oklahoma (5-3), which brought a five-game winning streak into the game, tied the score twice after that, and took a brief 66-64 lead when Amir Allen scored inside.
From there, the veteran sophs -- Williams and Jamel Allen -- took over. Booman hit a bucket and then made four straight foul shots and it was 70-66 Warriors. Following a Mavericks free throw, Allen buried threes on consecutive possessions, one from each corner, and the IHCC advantage was quickly back up to nine with just over a minute to play and the Warriors were home free.
Williams knocked down three more free throws and Allen had a late layup in the last 54 seconds.
After going scoreless in the first half, when IHCC shot only 34 percent and committed 12 turnovers, Williams and Allen combined for 30 second-half points. Allen ended up with 16 and Williams 14.
Tomas Woldetensae added 16 for Indian Hills.
Trevion Lamar topped the Mavs with a game-high 27. He was mainly responsible for their 35-31 halftime lead, pouring in 18 points in the first 20 minutes and nailing four 3-pointers. When Lamar made four straight from the line at the outset of the second half and Austin-Johnson connected on a three, Northern was up 10 less than 90 seconds into the half.
The quartet of Allen, Williams, Woldetensae and Gatling had all but two of their team's 52 points in the final half when IHCC outscored the visitors, 52-40.
Indian Hills shot 64 percent from the field and also from distance in the second half, after struggling to score before halftime.
The Warriors will take on another Oklahoma squad when Northeastern Oklahoma A&M provides the opposition on Saturday night. NEO took down previously undefeated Ellsworth, 72-60, in Friday's first game of the Bowling RV/Courtside Classic.
INDIAN HILLS 83, NORTHERN OKLAHOMA-TONKAWA 75
INDIAN HILLS
Ivan Aurrecoechea 1 3-4 5, Jamel Allen 6 0-0 16, Antonio Williams 3 8-10 14, Tomas Woldetensae 5 4-6 16, Shane Gatling 8 0-0 23, Connor Murrell 0 0-0 0, Devontae Lane 1 0-0 2, Rob Montgomery 1 0-2 2, James Jean-Marie 2 1-4 5, Javier Valeiras 0 0-0 0 Team 27 16-26 83
NORTHERN OKLAHOMA-TONKAWA
Keiodre Perry 3 0-0 8, Amir Allen 6 5-7 17, Trevion Lamar 8 7-8 27, Demaree King 1 0-0 3, Khobe Austin-Johnson 2 1-2 7, Omar Boone 1 0-1 2, Chris Hamil 2 0-0 6, Elafayette Stone 2 1-2 5 Team 25 14-20 75
Halftime score: Northern Oklahoma-Tonkawas 35, Indian Hills 31; Three-point field goals: IHCC 13 (Gatling 7, Allen 4, Woldetensae 2), NOT 11 (Lamar 4, Perry 2, Austin-Johnson 2, Hamil 2, King 1)