Kirkwood Mens Basketball

Kirkwood - Mens Basketball

Joseph Tagarelli shots over Marshalltown's Paulius Sakinis during Wednesday's 74-64 victory for Kirkwood at Johnson Hall. (MSR photo by Ken Gilchrist)

No. 9 Eagles surge past Marshalltown

Wed - 07 Jan Written by Jim Ecker

The Kirkwood men's basketball team went from awful to awesome during the course of a single game Wednesday night.

The result was a satisfying 74-64 victory for the ninth-ranked Eagles over Marshalltown at Johnson Hall.

Kirkwood (12-3) shot 28.6 percent from the field and scored only 22 points in the first half, but the Eagles sizzled in the second half with 62.5 percent marksmanship and 52 points.

"We played kind of tentative and scared in the first half," said Jordan Ashton, who led Kirkwood with 21 points. "We weren't attacking them, they were attacking us more. And the second half we definitely took it to them."

Marshalltown (16-4) led 44-33 early in the second half when the Eagles caught fire for a 15-3 spurt, turning their 11-point deficit into a 48-47 advantage. Ashton nailed two 3-pointers and scored eight straight points during the surge to help get his team untracked.

Ashton shot 5-for-7 from the field in the second half, including a 3-for-4 showing from 3-point range after struggling to find openings in the first 20 minutes.

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Kirkwood - Mens Basketball

Ron Singleton of Kirkwood dunks in two of his career-best 23 points during Friday night's game against the University of Dubuque junior varsity. (MSR photo by Ken Gilchrist)

Singleton shines for No.10 Eagles

Fri - 02 Jan Written by Jim Ecker

Ron Singleton rang in the new year with a healthy new dose of confidence Friday night.

Singleton shot a perfect 8-for-8 from the field and scored a career-high 23 points as the 10th-ranked Kirkwood Eagles strolled by the University of Dubuque junior varsity, 86-40, at Johnson Hall.

Singleton is a strong 6-foot-6, 230-pound forward from Chicago, but he's had problems finishing around the rim and is averaging only five points for the season in 14 games. He showed what he's capable of accomplishing Friday night, however.

Kirkwood Coach Bryan Petersen has kept Singleton in the starting lineup for the most part, knowing he had the potential to do big things.

"My biggest thing with Ron is, we need him," said Petersen. "We need him to produce, we need him to play at a high level for us to achieve our goals.

"He had a tough first semester, and he knows it," said Petersen. "But we stayed with him because we need him and he puts in the time. He did a nice job out there today. I really liked his rebounding more than anything."

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Kirkwood - Mens Basketball

Iowa Western’s Thik Bol attempts to block a shot by Kirkwood’s Joe Tagarelli during Saturday's game at Johnson Hall. (Photo by Margaret O'Banion)

Kirkwood falls to Iowa Western in OT

Sat - 13 Dec Written by Jim Ecker

These rematches are killing the Kirkwood men's basketball team.

It happened again Saturday when the eighth-ranked Eagles blew a 16-point lead and lost to Iowa Western, 82-76, in overtime at Johnson Hall.

This is the third time Kirkwood (10-3) has lost a rematch with an opponent after beating them the first time around.

The Eagles topped John Wood 84-63 in their first meeting this season, then dropped the rematch 75-65. They beat Southeastern 72-63 the first time, then got hammered 95-66 in the rematch.

And now it's happened with Iowa Western.

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Kirkwood - Mens Basketball

Kirkwood gets back in win column

Wed - 10 Dec Written by Metro Sports Report

MOLINE Ill. - Ajay Lawton scored 22 points and former Linn-Mar standout Matt Lassen added 20 as Kirkwood broke a two-game losing streak Tuesday night with an 89-75 road victory over Black Hawk College.

Jordan Ashton added 17 and Kareem Martin 11 for the Eagles (10-2). Kirkwood connected on 12 3-point baskets. Lassen hit five and Lawton four from beyond the arc.

Blake Lowderman led Black Hawk (5-5) with 18 points. Brandon Vice finished with 14.

Kirkwood returns home to play its final game of 2014 on Saturday, hosting Iowa Western Community College in a 3 p.m. game at Johnson Hall.

KIRKWOOD (89): Singleton 1 1-1 3, Lawton 6 6-6 22, Lassen 6 3-4 20, Hunter 3 2-2 9, Weeks 1 0-0 2, Olson 1 2-2 4, Ashton 5 6-6 17, Martin 5 0-1 11, Ukah 0 1-4 1. Totals: 28 21-26 89.

BLACK HAWK (75): Blom 5 1-4 11, Cole 4 0-0 11, Lowderman 7 2-2 18, Buhman 2 0-0 4, Vice 4 5-6 14, Johnson 2 0-0 4, Atwater 3 2-4 8, Turner 2 0-0 5, Holt 0 0-0 0, Hanley 0 0-0 0, R. Terronez 0 0-0 0, M. Terronez 0 0-0 0. Totals 29 10-16 75.\

Halftime: Kirkwood 45, Black Hawk 42. 3-point goals: Kirkwood 12 (Singleton 1, Lawton 4, Lassen 5, Hunter 1, Ashton 1), Black Hawk 7 (Cole 3, Lowderman 2, Vice 1, Turner 1).