OTTUMWA, IA – The Iowa Community College Athletic Conference has released its Division I Men’s Basketball All-Region selections for NJCAA Region XI, and Indian Hills had five players earn recognition in addition to garnering both Player and Coach of the Year honors.

The Warriors finished the season at 21-3 and fell just short of qualifying for the NJCAA National Tournament for the eighth straight time.  IHCC did win the regular season ICCAC title outright, and were the postseason ICCAC Tournament champions for the eighth time in the past ten seasons.

Indian Hills had two first team selections in Tyem Freeman and Chris Payton, two second team picks in Taj Anderson and Curtis Jones, and Tyrese Nickelson was tabbed as honorable mention.  Freeman concluded his outstanding year at IHCC by netting the ICCAC’s Division I Men’s Basketball Player of the Year award.  Head Coach Hank Plona was named the league’s Coach of the Year for the third time in four years of the award’s existence.

“I’m very happy for all of our guys that were recognized,” Plona said. “We have had a great season and I’m excited for our players for this recognition and look forward to seeing the future success that is coming for all of them.”

The explosive Freeman led Indian Hills in scoring with 18.6 points per contest.  He scored over 20 points on nine different occasions and twice broke the 30-point barrier.  The Springfield, Missouri native hit double-figures in 21-of-24 contests and averaged 7.3 rebounds per game.  Freeman’s scoring average ranked him third among all ICCAC players.

Freeman becomes the fourth consecutive IHCC player to win the Division I Player of the Year award joining Shane Gatling in 2018, Tomas Woldetensae in 2019, and Chris Childs in 2020.

“Tyem made a huge impact in a short time at Indian Hills,” Plona added. “We had high expectations for him and he exceeded them. I’m happy he was able to show the country the type of player that he is.”

A preseason All-American, Payton lived up to lofty expectations as well as the sophomore collected first-team All-Region accolades for the second straight season.  Payton averaged a double-double all season with a scoring average of 12.5 points per game, while grabbing ten boards per contest.  The Bloomington, Illinois product collected a double-double 14 times in 24 outings and accomplished the feat in each of IHCC’s final eight contests.

“Chris has had one of the best Indian Hills careers of the past decade,” Plona said. “He’s an outstanding player, winner, and leader. He’s an Indian Hills Hall of Famer in my eyes.”

A pair of freshman guards landed on the ICCAC’s second unit in the form of Jones and Anderson.  Jones was the floor leader in his first season in Ottumwa, taking care of the majority of the ball-handling duties in addition to finding his way to an average of 12.1 points per game as well as grabbing six rebounds and 5.5 assists per contest.  Jones was also the perfect choice to have the ball in his hands in crunch time as the Minneapolis native shot 86.8 percent from the free throw line.

The sharpshooting Anderson averaged 12.6 points per contest and was 58-for-143 from distance (40.6 percent) in his freshman campaign.  The 6’3” guard from the Bronx had a stretch in late February/early March where he scored 24 against Northeast on the road, and 23 and 22, respectively at home against Division I rivals Southeastern and Marshalltown.

Nickelson was a bedrock for Plona’s program for the past two seasons as the former Waterloo East prep averaged 10.9 points per game in 2021 and was a tenacious defender and fearless at attacking the basket.  Nickelson could also be counted on at the charity stripe as the sophomore was 88-of-100 from the line in 2021.

“Curt is an elite point guard, Taj is an elite scorer, and Tyrese is a winner in every sense of the word,” Plona said. “They’ve been outstanding for us.  All three of those guys, along with our other guards, all did a great job this year doing whatever was asked of them. I think they, along with Levar Williams, Theo Bourgeois and Trey Harris, had a willingness to always put the team and their teammates first. The entire backcourt is a special group.”

Plona’s career mark is now 169-24 in six seasons at the helm of the Warrior program, a win percentage of 87.5 percent.  That mark is the highest percentage among any IHCC coach that served more than three years piloting the hoops program.  The Warrior headman is now second all-time in school history in total wins (Terry Carroll 269), and next season will have the second-longest tenure as a head coach in Warrior history besides Carroll (1989-98).

“I’m always humbled and appreciative to the other coaches for any honor given to myself,” Plona said.  “However, without an outstanding group of players, it would not happen, so this is more of a team award than anything else. Having the privilege to coach this team during this year means the world to me.”