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Two teams that joined Indian Hills in the NJCAA national tournament field last March, Three Rivers (Mo.) and College of Southern Idaho, and a new conference foe, Northeast (Neb.), are among the opponents on the Warriors’ 2012-13 basketball schedule.

“I think our schedule will be a great challenge for us and it fits our team very well,” said IHCC coach Barret Peery of the 30-game regular season slate that includes 17 home games.

The season will begin with back-to-back home tournaments, two of the four tourneys IHCC will host this year.

The season-opening tournament, the Blackwell Tire Classic, is Nov. 2-3 with the Warriors playing Carl Sandburg (Ill.) in the opener and Kirkwood the following night.

The next weekend Indian Hills will welcome Paris (Tex.) back to the Hellyer Center as part of the Reed Overhead Doors Classic. IHCC won a hard-fought game with Paris, 84-78, last year. Paris won the national title in 2005.

PCS and HyVee will also host two-day tournaments, both of them in December.

There will be two long three-game road trips. In November, the Warriors play at Salt Lake CC and then travel to a tourney hosted by Southern Idaho.

 Indian Hills defeated Southern Idaho in last year’s national tournament on the way to a seventh-place finish.

IHCC will play three games in Arizona in a five-day period, starting New Year’s Day. Those contests will be followed by a game at Three Rivers and one at Northeast (Neb.).

Peery said all the road games will be very challenging, especially the trip to Utah and Idaho and a pair of games in Missouri at Three Rivers and Moberly.

He notes that will be a great way to prepare his team for the rugged conference schedule which now consists of eight games.

Two of them will be played on Wednesdays, including the home encounter with Southeastern.

Indian Hills returns two of its top three scorers, Jameel McKay and Dustin Hogue, and other important parts from a team that finished 33-4 last year and earned the school’s ninth national tourney appearance.

“With so many returning players, I’m excited to challenge them with some great home games here at the Hellyer Center,” said the IHCC head coach.

Indian Hills went undefeated, 20-0, at home last year and has an incredible homecourt winning percentage of .907 over the last two decades.

The 2012-13 basketball schedule can be found on the IHCC website at www.indianhills.edu. Ticket information for the home games will be released later this month.

Courtesy IHCC