Iowa Lakes guard Chris Jones was born quick.

And when it comes to college basketball, the quicker the better.

Jones and his teammates were too quick - and tough scrappy - Saturday afternoon and upset the 10th-ranked Kirkwood Eagles, 95-85, in an ICCAC conference game at Johnson Hall.

Jones, who is generously listed at 6-foot-1, tormented the Eagles with quick jitterbug moves to the basket for a series of layups, and when he wasn't getting to the rim he was driving the Eagles on their heels and popping up for a quick jumper.

Jones finished with 25 points, including some killer buckets along the way.

"He's explosive," said Iowa Lakes Coach Troy Larson. "In college basketball you need that, you need guys that can make plays with the ball in his hands, and Chris can definitely do that."

It was a damaging loss for Kirkwood, which fell into a tie for second place in the ICCAC with Iowa Lakes at 5-2, two full games behind Southwestern in the race for the league title and the No. 1 seed for the regional tournament.

Jones graduated from high school in 2012 and spent one year at another junior college before enrolling at Iowa Lakes this season. He did not play organized basketball last year.

"I was nowhere," he said. "I was really at the house. I was working. I wasn't in school. I'm just thankful for the chance that Coach Larson gave me.

"Quickness has always been a big part of me," he said, "because I've always been so little. I've always had to use my speed to get by."

Kirkwood defeated Iowa Lakes, 76-67, in Estherville Jan. 9 and held Jones to 14 points in that game, but the Eagles could not find anybody who could stop him Saturday.

"He's a good player, but when we went up there and guarded him the first time we did a pretty good job on him," said Kirkwood Coach Bryan Petersen.

"We just have to have somebody step up and guard him and get the job done.

That's what it boils down to."

Jones did a lot of his damage in the early stages of the second half when Iowa Lakes raced to a 63-51 lead. The Lakers opened an 18-point bulge at 80-62 with about six minutes left and the Eagles could not catch up.

"It's sad to say, but they wanted it more and they were tougher than us," said Petersen. "We didn't play very well, but at the same time they have good players and they were tougher. That's the biggest thing I saw."

Kirkwood hurt itself by missing 11 free throws. By comparison, Iowa Lakes cashed 26 of 28 foul shots to help keep the Eagles at bay in the final minutes. Rachard Moody, another quick guard, made 11 of 12 free throws and finished with 17 points for the Lakers (16-7).

Iowa Lakes made 58.5 percent of its shots in the game (31 of 53).

Hunter Rhodes scored 25 points for Kirkwood (19-4). Nick Richards had 19 points and Jacob Olson, wearing a mask to protect a broken nose, finished with 10 points.

IOWA LAKES (95): Bauer 2 4-4 9, Wilder 3 2-2 8, Jones 10 4-4 25, Bressler 3 0-0 7, Woodley 4 1-2 11, Moody 3 11-12 17, Cox 3 4-4 11, Harmon 1 0-0 2, Keller 1 0-0 2, Runkel 1 0-0 3. Totals 31 26-28 95.

KIRKWOOD (85): Bartlett 3 0-0 8, Rhodes 6 10-11 25, Richards 6 5-11 19, Olson 3 3-3 10, King 0 0-0 0, Jackson 4 0-0 9, Harp 0 0-0 0, Fagan 3 0-4 7, Wilson 2 0-0 5, Henry 0 2-2 2, Triplett 0 0-0 0. Totals 27 20-31 85.

Halftime - Iowa Lakes 45, Kirkwood 44. 3-point goals - Iowa Lakes 7 (Cox 4, Woodley 2, Bauer 1, Jones 1, Bressler 1), Kirkwood 11 (Rhodes 3, Bartlett 2, Richards 2, Olson 1, Jackson 1, Fagan 1, Wilson 1).