Kirkwood takes down NIACC to clinch berth in NJCAA national tournament
CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa. (KCRG) - The Kirkwood Eagles took down NIACC 84-72 in the regional final on Saturday to clinch a berth in the NJCAA National Tournament. The Eagles will participate in the national tournament for the first time since 2016, when they won the national title.
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“Its special, obviously there's high expectations here at Kirkwood. We have a really good team and this is a really good group to be around." Head coach Bryan Petersen said. "I love coaching them so I wanted to coach them for another 2 weeks and we got that opportunity now."
Doug Wilson was named the tournament MVP after scoring a game-high 27 points in Saturday's victory.
"I always knew that we had it as a group." Wilson said. "They are a really talented team and we knew it was going to be a dog fight coming in. So just showing the amount of toughness that we did, I’m really proud of us."
Devonte Thedford finished with 22 points in the winning effort.