by Alan Hoskins
Kansas City Kansas Community College basketball coach Kelley Newton has no quarrel with Iowa Western’s No. 12 ranking in the NJCAA Division I men’s basketball poll – except that it may not be high enough.
“Iowa Western is a very good basketball team,” said Newton after the Reivers (12-1) turned back KCKCC 97-86 in Council Bluffs Tuesday night. The win completed an Iowa Western sweep of the Blue Devils, who fell 83-73 at home Nov. 24.
The loss dropped the Blue Devils to 7-6 heading into their final pre-holiday game Friday at home against North Central at 7 p.m. The No. 8 KCKCC women will also play their 2015 finale, hosting No. 20 North Arkansas at 5 p.m.
Torrid shooting led by 6-2 sophomore guard Donovan Jackson proved too much for the Blue Devils to overcome at Iowa Western. Hitting 9 of 12 shots including 7 of 9 from three-point range, Jackson finished with a game high 25 points.
“He’s a very good player, very good,” Newton said. Jackson’s sizzling shooting enabled the Reivers to shoot 58.6 percent for the game (34-of-58) and 54.2 percent from three-pint (13-of-24).
Iowa Western opened up a 48-37 halftime lead and then turned back repeated Blue Devil rallies.
“We could just not quite put them away,” said Iowa Western Coach Jim Morris, whose Reivers were 8-of-10 from three-point the final half.
“We made runs but we just couldn’t get stops,” Newton said. “That was the game. We just couldn’t get stops.” Iowa Western also had seven blocked shots.
Six Blue Devils scored in double figures for the Blue Devils including all five starters. Mike Lee led with 16 points while Xavier Gaona and Jonathan Murray added 14 each, Joe Lendway 13 and Kellan Turner and backup guard Devante Sayles 10 apiece.
KCKCC had a slight rebounding edge 35-31 as Lee, Lendway and Murray had five each.
Alan Hoskins is the sports information director at KCKCC.