March 28, 2024

Spartans remain unbeaten in league play

FORT DODGE — The sixth-ranked Southwestern Community College men’s basketball team survived a late comeback attempt by Iowa Central to post a 68-66 win here Wednesday.

The Spartans remain unbeaten in ICCAC Division II play with the win, improving to 6-0 in league play and 20-3 overall, while Iowa Central dropped to 7-8 overall and 1-4 in the league.

Southwestern holds a 1.5-game lead over Kirkwood for the top spot in the conference.

KeShawn Wilson hit one of his two 3-pointers for the game to put Southwestern up 60-50 with about 4:30 to go in the game.

But Iowa Central chipped into the lead with a basket and after an empty Spartan possession, a 3-pointer by Jerrod Moorer, which cut the lead to five. Moorer finished with a game-high 31 points, including 23 in the second half.

“We were up four and they had the basketball with 30 seconds left,” Southwestern head coach Todd Lorensen said. “Missed a shot, offensive rebound, missed a shot, offensive rebound and they hit a three to cut it to one with 11 seconds left.”

Jordan Johnson drew a foul and made one of two free throws to make the score 68-66.

Iowa Central’s Marcus Baldwin got off an 18-footer at the buzzer that would have tied the game.

Instead, Southwestern survived.

“That’s about as well as it can be described,” Lorensen said. “They did some things that really bothered us. It was a lower scoring affair. Fortunately, we had built up enough of a lead, we could struggle down the stretch with our offense and still prevail.”

Terrance Smith led Southwestern with 20 points, but only six of those came after Southwestern took a 37-31 lead into the halftime break. Jok Kut added 11 points and Johnson scored nine.

“He’s (Smith) been battling a little common cold, but you could see his wind wasn’t quite what it would be,” Lorensen said. “We had to play him in shorter spurts. He hit another couple big threes in the second half. He had a couple of blocks for us that set the tone defensively.”

Southwestern does not play within the league again until Feb. 6, when the Spartans host DMACC (15-6, 2-3). The Spartans host Central College’s JV team on Tuesday.

IOWA CENTRAL (66) — Jerrod Moorer 9 6-8 31, Deon Wright 7 1-1 16, Marcus Baldwin 4 3-4 11, Tyreese Alexander 1 1-3 3, Monquavis Frazier 1 0-0 3, Marvin Joseph 1 0-0 2. Totals — 23 11-16 66. FG shooting — 23-71 (32.3 percent). 3-point goals — 9-24 (Moorer 7, Frazier 1, Wright 1). Rebounds — 46. Steals — 6. Blocked shots — 0. Turnovers — 14. Team fouls — 18. Fouled out — none.

SOUTHWESTERN (68) — Terrance Smith 7 2-2 20, Jok Kut 5 1-2 11, Jordan Johnson 3 1-2 9, KeShawn Wilson 2 0-0 6, Sergio Antelmi 3 0-0 6, Calvin Chambers 0 4-4 4, Simon Joseph 2 0-1 4, TJ Bower 1 0-0 3, Josh Tolbert 1 0-0 3, Ahmad Newsome 1 0-1 2. Totals — 25 8-14 68. FG shooting — 24-65 (36.9 percent). 3-point goals — 10-33 (Smith 4, Johnson 2, Wilson 2, Tolbert 1, Bower 1). Rebounds — 46. Steals — 5. Blocked shots — 6. Turnovers — 18. Team fouls — 17. Fouled out — none.

ICCC — 31 66

SWCC — 37 68