Kirkwood Mens Basketball

Rhodes sparks No. 6 Eagles by Parkland

WEST BURLINGTON - Hunter Rhodes poured in a career-high 28 points and collected seven assists Friday night as the sixth-ranked Kirkwood Eagles topped Parkland, 89-81, in the opening round of the SCC Classic in West Burlington.

Rhodes, a 6-foot point guard from Canton, Ill., drilled five 3-pointers and was 9-for-10 overall from the field.

Josh Meier scored 14 points for Kirkwood and Nick Richards had 12. The Eagles raced to a 50-32 lead at halftime.

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No. 6 Kirkwood men top John Wood

QUINCY, Ill. - The Kirkwood men's basketball team was assessed a technical foul for dunking in pre-game warmups Wednesday night and trailed John Wood 1-0 before the contest even began.

The rest of the night went better for the sixth-ranked Eagles.

Kirkwood used a balanced attack to defeat John Wood, 67-55, in a non-conference game in Quincy, Ill.

Hunter Rhodes and Kaliph Fagan scored 11 points apiece for the Eagles. Cristen Wilson and Da'Rion King added 10 points each. Wilson also grabbed nine rebounds as Kirkwood raised its record to 2-0.

Larry Plummer scored 14 points for John Wood (0-1).

KIRKWOOD (67): Bartlett 1 0-0 3, Rhodes 4 1-3 11, Richards 2 0-0 4, Woods 1 0-2 2, Jackson 0 0-0 0, Harp 1 4-4 6, Fagan 3 4-5 11, Olson 1 0-0 2, Meier 0 0-0 0, Wilson 3 4-6 10, Bonds 1 2-4 4, Henry 1 2-4 4, King 4 2-4 10. Totals 22 19-32 67.

Halftime - Kirkwood 38, John Wood 31. 3-point goals - Rhodes 2, Bartlett 1, Fagan 1.

Kirkwood looks to take next step

Bryan Petersen has done a good job as the men's basketball coach at Kirkwood Community College the past two years.

Now he wants more.

Petersen led the Eagles to a 21-10 record during the 2013-14 season as their rookie head coach, then followed with a 25-7 mark last season.

"We want to take the next step," Petersen said Thursday after practice at Johnson Hall. "We've knocked on the door a little bit, but it's time. We have to find a way to get Kirkwood back to conference champs and going to the national tournament.

"This team has the potential to do that," he said. "I think we're a long ways away from it, but it's something we're thinking about on a daily basis."

The Eagles open the 2015-16 at 3 p.m. Saturday with a home game against William Penn.

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Petersen signs 11 players for Kirkwood

Kirkwood men's basketball coach Bryan Petersen is young and energetic, but he'd rather not have to sign 11 new players every year to keep the Eagles headed in the right direction.

It's a lot of work for Petersen and his assistant coaches, but seven sophomores graduated from this year's club and two freshmen are not coming back.

There were holes to fill and Petersen thinks they've done it well.

"I feel really good about it," he said this week. "It's a group of kids that we feel will fit Kirkwood, not only as basketball players but as good people and good students.

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