Spartans sputter early in loss

Southwestern men couldn’t extend their three-game winning streak with a slow start in Wednesday’s 69-54 home loss to 10th-ranked Kirkwood Community College.

Two nights earlier, Southwestern bolted to a 40-24 halftime lead in a 73-65 home victory over Iowa Western, lifting the Spartans into a fifth-place tie with the Reivers in the Iowa Community College Athletic Conference at 4-5, and 12-9 overall.

Kirkwood, coming in with a 15-3 overall mark and sitting third in the ICCAC at 6-2, did not allow such a fast start by the Spartans on Wednesday. Southwestern was held scoreless as Kirkwood established a 9-0 lead in the first six minutes.

The Spartans didn’t score until Patrick Worrell’s drive to the basket at the 14:10 mark of the first half. The gap widened to 21-9 and Southwestern didn’t reach double figures until the 4:08 mark of the half.

After trailing 33-22 at halftime, the Spartans still had less than 30 points in trailing 41-27 with 15:15 left in the game. At that point reserve forward Corbin Dozier got sizzling hot from the 3-point arc, hitting four in a four-minute span to pull the Spartans within five points at 51-46 with eight minutes left.

That would be the final charge, however, as Kirkwood got in the free throw bonus and converted several foul shots down the stretch in extending the final margin to 15 points.

“In the first half we only hit two threes and we took a lot of them,” Southwestern coach Shane Sweany said. “We kind of hung on to our defense to stay in it. I give them (Kirkwood) a lot of props. They play hard defensively and they scouted us well. We weren’t executing well enough to score consistently.”

Sweany praised his team’s tenacity in cutting the deficit to five points after trailing by double digits much of the game, but the Spartans were unable to gain the lead.

“We just didn’t get enough stops,” he said. “There were some calls that didn’t go our way, and they got in the bonus way earlier than they probably should have.”

A.J. Doctor led the Spartans with 15 points. Dozier finished with 12 and Joseph Bell tallied 10 points.

The tables were turned Monday when the Spartans held off Iowa Western’s comeback attempt. The Reivers cut a 16-point halftime deficit to a final eight-point spread.

In that SWCC win, Bell scored 18 points with seven rebounds. Both Andrew Scoggins (17 points, 14 rebounds) and Patrick Worrell (16 points, 16 rebounds) had double-doubles.

The Spartans won on the road last Saturday, 84-76 at North Iowa Area Community College in Mason City.

Southwestern is idle until traveling to Western Iowa Tech on Jan. 31.

“We have the weekend off and we need it to work on some things to execute better against good teams,” Sweany said.

SOUTHWESTERN (54) — Totals — (FG FT PTS) 20 4-9 54. A.J. Doctor 5 3-5 15, Corbin Dozier 4 0-0 12, Joseph Bell 4 0-0 10, James Braddy 2 0-0 6, Patrick Worrell 2 1-2 5, Andrew Scoggins 2 0-2 4, Bogdan Cret 1 0-0 2. 3-point goals — 10 (Dozier 4, Doctor 2, Braddy 2, Bell 2). Team fouls — 18. Fouled out — Worrell.

KIRKWOOD (69) — Totals — (FG FT PTS) 25 15-21 69. Tate Haughenbury 6 2-2 14, Colby Dolphin 5 0-0 12, Jacob Runyan 1 7-9 9, Puolrah Gong 3 2-2 8, James Spencer 2 3-4 7, Ayouba Berthe 3 1-4 7, Zach Erwin 3 0-0 6, Jack Wagemester 1 0-0 3, Tate Peterson 1 0-0 3. 3-point goals — 8 (Dolphin 3, Gong 3, Wagemester 1, Petersen 1). Team fouls — 14. Fouled out — None.