Kirkwood Mens Basketball

Kirkwood hits 19 triples in victory

COUNCIL BLUFFS - The red-hot Kirkwood Eagles torched the nets for nineteen 3-pointers Saturday night and dropped Iowa Western, 95-82, in a men's junior college game in Council Bluffs.

Ajay Lawton and Jordan Ashton made six 3-pointers and Matt Lassen hit five of them. Hunter Rhodes and Kareem Martin Jr. also made a 3-pointer as the Eagles shot a sizzling 19 of 31 from behind the arc for 61.3 percent overall.

Lawton was 6-for-11, Ashton was 6-for-8 and Lassen was 5-for-6 in the incredible display of shooting.

Ashton finished with 28 points and five rebounds. Lawton had 22 points, seven assists, five rebounds and no turnovers. Lassen scored all 15 of his points on 3-pointers.

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Ashton finds new home at Kirkwood

Jordan Ashton hasn't had this much fun playing basketball since he led Mount Pleasant High School to the Class 3A state title in 2012 and was named captain of the all-tournament team.

Ashton spent two years at Northwest Missouri State, an NCAA Division II school in Maryville, Mo., before transferring to Kirkwood Community College, where he's fit in comfortably this season and is leading the Eagles in scoring at 16.6 per game.

Ashton tossed in a game-high 18 points Wednesday night as the Eagles cruised past the Loras junior varsity team, 117-55, at Johnson Hall for their seventh straight victory to begin the season.

Ashton, a 6-foot-4 guard, was redshirted at Northwest Missouri State as a true freshman in 2012-13 and played sparingly last year, scoring 37 points in 15 games. He had an episode with an irregular heartbeat last season and the coaching staff wanted want him to take a medical redshirt this year, even though he was pronounced healthy and cleared to play.

Ashton decided to cast his lost somewhere else. Kirkwood Coach Bryan Petersen heard the news and acted quickly.

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Lassen, Tagarelli lift Kirkwood

By his own admission, Matt Lassen was having a subpar game.

The Kirkwood sharpshooter spent a good portion of Saturday's men's  basketball game with Southeastern at Johnson Hall on the bench with foul trouble.

Scoreless through the game's first 36 minutes, Lassen converted a pair of clutch 3-point baskets, the second one with 1:51 remaining with the Eagles clinging to a one-point lead.

Lassen's second trey gave Kirkwood the cushion it needed. Hunter Rhodes' six free throws in the final minute sealed a hard-fought 72-63 victory in a battle of unbeatens.

"I had a tough time getting going," Lassen said. "It was just one of those games. I was in foul trouble. I wasn't guarding very well, but I always have confidence in my shot.

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Balanced Eagles roll to 5-0 start

The Kirkwood Eagles need to learn how to play good basketball with a 30-point lead.

That may sound strange, but Coach Bryan Petersen does not want his club to develop any bad habits when things are going so well.

Kirkwood zoomed to a 31-point lead at halftime Tuesday night and coasted to a 90-58 victory over Black Hawk Community College in a non-conference game at Johnson Hall.

Kareem Martin Jr. led five players into double figures with 15 points as the Eagles raised their record to 5-0. Matt Lassen helped Kirkwood get off to a fast start and finished with 14 points.

Jordan Ashton and Joe Tagarelli scored 13 points apiece and Chike Ukah had 10. Ajay Lawton and Hunter Rhodes both finished with eight points and nine assists, nearly reaching a double-double.

"Good win. Home opener. It was fun," said Petersen. "Nice crowd. I was very pleased with that. A good student section. It was nice to see some people out there watching us."

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