Metro Sports Report

Kirkwood wraps up top seed with win

Bryan Petersen admitted he had some concerns as February started.

His Kirkwood men's basketball team had given up 95 points in a Feb. 6 loss to Iowa Lakes, on the heels of a January loss at Southwestern where the hosts scored 85.

What a difference a few weeks, and some attention to detail, can make.

Since the loss to Iowa Lakes, the No. 6 Eagles have won six straight, holding four of their six opponents under 60 points.

The lastest victim of Kirkwood's renewed defense was NIACC. The Trojans shot just 31 percent from the field Saturday at Johnson Hall and went back to Mason City with a 74-57 defeat.

The victory gave the Eagles (25-4, 10-2) a share of the ICCAC regular-season title with both Southwestern and Iowa Lakes. Kirkwood gained the No. 1 seed for the upcoming regional tournament by having the best strength of schedule. Southwestern will be the No. 2 seed, followed by Iowa Lakes.

NIACC surprises No. 3 Eagles

Sophomore day is usually a day of celebration.

That was what was expected Saturday as the Kirkwood women's basketball team closed out its regular season against NIACC at Johnson Hall.

Six Eagles were honored before playing their final regular-season home game and the next step was to go out and finish a perfect run through the ICCAC schedule.

However, the visiting Trojans had other ideas. They built an eight-point lead in the third quarter, then got the benefit of a controversial intentional foul call in the final seconds to shock the No. 3 Eagles, 60-57.

Kirkwood (26-5, 13-1) had already clinched an outright conference title and the top seed in the upcoming regional tournament. The victory clinched the No. 2 seed for NIACC (19-10, 11-3).

Kirkwood will host Ellsworth in the opening round of the regional tournament Tuesday night.

Eagles Coach Kim Muhl felt bad for sophomores Casey Miles, A.J. Downs, Addie Oberman, Caitlin Sudduth, Cyerra Hutchins and Madison Wood who had a rough day collectively as a group.

Mustangs earn trip to NAIA nationals

The Mount Mercy men's basketball team clinched a spot in the NAIA national tournament Saturday afternoon by winning a tough game in the semifinals of their conference tournament, but the Mustangs say they are not done yet.

The 17th-ranked Mustangs want to capture the AII conference title Sunday night before they head to Missouri for the national tournament in 10 days.

Mount Mercy trimmed Central Christian, 74-68, in the semifinals of the Association of Independent Institutions tourney Saturday with a late surge at the U.S. Cellular Center.

The Mustangs trailed 65-61 with about three minutes remaining, but they scored 13 straight points to win their second tight game in the AII meet in less than 24 hours.

Mount Mercy (24-7) will face York (23-8) in the conference finals Sunday at 6 p.m.

Unselfish Lions make substate finals

The mantra heard over and over in practice the past week obviously got into the heads of the Linn-Mar boys basketball players.

"Ball movement, ball movement, ball movement,” explained Lions sharpshooter Jared Printy. “That’s what the coaches preached, and that was the game plan. Move the ball and find the open guy.”

They performed it to perfection Friday night on their home court in a 79-63 Class 4A substate semifinal win over Waterloo East.

Riding an eight-game winning streak, the 10th-ranked Lions (17-5) will face No. 7 Cedar Falls (18-4) at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at the U.S. Cellular Center in the Substate 3 final.

By flipping the ball in and out and from side to side, the Lions were like pinball wizards.

In the opening four minutes alone, their passing magic resulted in four wide-open 3-pointers and a 12-2 lead that immediately set the Trojans back on their heels. Shooting from one corner and then the other, Jordan Bohannon popped one in, Riley Murphy hit two in a row and Printy followed suit.