The Southwestern men's basketball team used a big first half and some timely shooting down the stretch to defeat Kirkwood Community College in their first Iowa Community College Athletic Conference (ICCAC) game, with a score of 94-83.  The NJCAA Division II Spartans are ranked second in the nation and moved to 17-0 (1-0 ICCAC) on the season.

The Spartans jumped to an early 12-2 lead and eventually took a 51-36 lead into halftime, but a 12-2 run to start the second half by Kirkwood closed the score to 53-48.  The rest of the half saw back and forth action with Southwestern never surrendering the lead.  The closest the Eagles could get was 83-80 with one minute to go.  Calvin Chambers made both ends of a one-and-one and Jordan Johnson made all of his charity shots in the final minute to secure the win.

"We have multiple guys who can step up and make free throws which is a huge asset in conference play," commented Spartan Head Coach Todd Lorensen.

Johnson led the offensive charge with 30 points while KeShawn Wilson had 18, 14 coming in the second half.  Brodric Thomas had 13 points despite being stuck on the sidelines much of the game due to foul trouble.  Four of Thomas' points came off of highlight worthy dunks.

"I try to stay out of the way of our guys," said Lorensen. "They are locked in and playing at a high level.  The less I can do the better for all of us."

Southwestern returns to action this Wednesday at 7 p.m. against Pure Prep, which is based out of Des Moines.  They return to ICCAC action on Saturday with a 3 p.m. tip-off vs Ellsworth, who is coming off a successful league opener vs Iowa Lakes.  This game will be played in Iowa Falls.