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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.

“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.