KCC men earn No. 1 seed for Region XI tournament
The fifth-ranked Eagles crushed Ellsworth, 89-59, in the final game of the regular season to grab a share of the ICCAC conference title and earn the No. 1 seed for the regional tournament.
Kirkwood began the week in second place in the league standings behind NIACC, but NIACC lost to DMACC in its final game of the season to give the Eagles a chance to tie for the title.
Kirkwood and NIACC tied for the championship with 12-2 league records, but the Eagles won the tiebreaker based on power ratings.
Bryan Petersen collected his 150th victory as the head coach at Kirkwood on Saturday. He has a 150-38 record at his alma mater.
The Eagles (24-4) will host No. 8 seed Southwestern (3-26) in the quarterfinals of the regional tournament Tuesday at 7 p.m. at Johnson Hall. If Kirkwood keeps winning, it will host the semifinals on Thursday and the regional championship game on Saturday.
Kirkwood was the No. 1 seed for the regional tournament last year, but fell short and failed to reach the national tournament. "Hopefully we can take advantage of that this year," said Petersen. "Last year we didn't."
All-American Doug Wilson led the Eagles against Ellsworth with 27 points, nine rebounds and three blocked shots. Allante Pickens scored 11 points and Luke Appel had 10.
LJ Harris scored 18 points for Ellsworth (9-20).
The other first-round pairings in the regional tournament are No. 7 Little Priest Tribal College (12-15) at No 2 NIACC (23-4), No. 6 Iowa Central (12-18) at No. 3 Iowa Lakes (21-9), and No. 5 Ellsworth (9-20) at No. 4 DMACC (21-9).
KIRKWOOD (89): Sims 2 0-0 4, Pickens 4 0-0 11, Thedford 3 0-0 6, Kasperbauer 1 1-2 4, Wilson 8 11-12 27, Sartorius 1 1-2 3, Dee 0 0-0 0, Clark 0 2-2 2, Stephenson 2 2-2 7, Biernacki 1 0-0 3, Gosnell 2 0-0 4, Arrington 2 2-2 8, Appel 4 2-3 10. Totals 30 21-25 89.
ELLSWORTH (59): Heard 3 1-3 7, Antoine 2 3-4 7, Harris 7 2-3 18, Taylor 4 0-2 8, Brown 1 0-0 2, Williams 4 1-3 10, Urness 1 0-0 2, Sims 0 0-0 0, Johnson 2 1-1 5. Totals 24 8-16 59.
Halftime - Kirkwood 44, Ellsworth 27. 3-point goals - Kirkwood 8 (Pickens 3, Arrington 2, Kasperbauer 1, Stephenson 1, Biernacki 1), Ellsworth 3 (Harris 2, Williams 1).
