OTTUMWA, IA – Indian Hills Community College defeated Northeast Community College here Saturday in the National Junior College Athletic Association’s Men’s Division I Region XI Championship game.

The Warriors took its biggest lead of the game, 20 points, with 4:49 left in the first half. A flurry of Hawks’ baskets cut Indian Hills lead to 50-40 at intermission. Northeast managed to cut the lead to seven points with just under 13:00 minutes remaining on two Buay Tuach free throws. The Hawks couldn’t get any closer into the Warriors lead until LJ Westbrook’s dunk cut the lead to nine with 3:45 remaining in the game.

Westbrook led the Hawks in scoring with 22 points. Tuach recorded a double-double tallying 17 points and grabbing 10 rebounds. Jalen Bradley scored 15 points while Chima Moneke had 12 points and chased down 13 rebounds. The Hawks only shot 37 percent from the floor compared to the Warriors’ 50.

“Our guys gave tremendous effort. We never seem to get rolling but we still managed to hang around all ball game. We just have to wait and see what happens for the national tournament. If the right teams win we have a shot, said Dan Anderson, Northeast coach.

The loss drops the Hawks to 25-7. The team’s future is still unknown as it awaits the announcement of at-large bids for the NJCAA National Tournament which will be released next weekend.