#8 Eagles Start John Wood Classic 1-0

The Kirkwood Eagles Men's Basketball team traveled to Quincy, Illinois today for their first road test of the season, competing in the John Wood Classic. Tonight, they took on Lake Land College who started their year with an impressive offensive and defensive performance. Kirkwood also came into tonight's match-up with a lot of confidence after their 2-0 start to the season, taking down Grand View JV and Elgin Community College in impressive fashion.

Kirkwood knew they were going to face a tough, high-pressure team in Lake Land. At the start of the game, both teams brought a lot of energy but struggled to find any offensive flow. But the defense held strong even with the relentless attack on the offensive glass by Lake Land. Early foul trouble for the Eagles forced Coach Sandquist to look to his bench. Kirkwood was searching for someone to find the flow offensively, and Colby Dolphin answered the call. Dolphin was a madman in the first half pouring in 4 pure, all-net three-pointers to ignite life into the Kirkwood Offense. Puolrah Gong provided a significant impact for the team, snatching rebounds left and right while attacking the rim to draw fouls, and getting to the charity stripe. The Eagles went into the break with a 43-38 advantage. 

Kirkwood started the second half with an Ayouba Berthe three-pointer. After a physical 3-minute stretch where both teams were stagnant offensively, Jacob Runyan hit a deep three to extend the Kirkwood lead to 7 by a score of 49-42. A pair of made free throws from Traijan Sain forced the Lake Land head coach to call a timeout. An old-fashioned three-point play followed by a Puolrah Gong made mid-range jumper forced Lake Land to call another timeout with Kirkwood leading 58-43. Coming out of the timeout, Lake Land answered quickly with a 7-point run of their own to trim the Kirkwood lead to 8 with 11:30 to go in the game. Both teams started trading made baskets with the speed of the game picking up largely in part to the Lake Land press. Colby Dolphin entered the game just under the 10:00 mark and quickly knocked down his 5th three-pointer of the game. Foul trouble started becoming an issue for Kirkwood, giving free opportunities at the line to Lake Land, and the Eagles started to cling to 70-66 lead with 4:50 to go. The Eagles were feeling the pressure, but a timely and-1 coming from Zach Erwin gave Kirkwood a 7-point lead, 79-72, with 2:29 to go. Jacob Runway was forced to call a timeout with 1:47 to go due to Lake Land's pressure, Kirkwood leading 80-74. After an and-1 and jump ball in favor of Lake Land, Ayouba Berthe delivered a big-time block to protect the 80-77 Kirkwood advantage and followed it up with 2 made three throws, secured a defensive rebound, and came down the floor to make an acrobatic shot for a 7-point lead. Lake Land surged back down the floor to score but had to quickly foul with only 0:19 remaining. Lake Land called timeout in an attempt to ice Jacob Runyan at the free throw line, but he calmly made both. Lake Land desperately tried to make a shot, but as time was expiring, Kirkwood secured the defensive rebound and dribbled out the clock to defeat Lake Land College by a score of 86-79.

Key Players of the Game

Colby Dolphin - 17 PTS (5-7 3FG), 2 AST, 3 REB

Ayouba Berthe - 15 PTS (4-9 FG, 6-6 FT), 9 REB, 3 AST, 1 STL

Traijan Sain - 13 PTS (4-9 FG, 5-6 FT), 8 REB, 3 AST, 1 BLK, 1 STL

Jacob Runyan - 13 PTS (4-7 FG, 3-6 3FG), 4 REB, 2 AST, 2 STL

Zach Erwin - 10 PTS (8-9 FT), 3 REB, 1 AST, 2 BLK

Kirkwood Men's Basketball improves to 3-0 on the season and will take on the host, John Wood Community College, today at 3:00 PM