No. 8 DMACC upsets No. 7 Kirkwood, 88-87, on the road

CEDAR RAPIDS — Trey Sampson proved you can go home again Wednesday night at Johnson Hall.

Sampson dropped in a pair of free throws with 6 seconds left in overtime for a four-point margin and No. 8 DMACC upset No. 7 Kirkwood, 88-87, in an ICCAC men's basketball game.

Sampson, a former Cedar Rapids Xavier athlete playing before a large contingent of family and friends, scored 20 points.

DMACC (18-4, 4-1) wrested control of the ICCAC standings from Kirkwood (16-5, 3-2), which had its four-game winning streak snapped.

'It was crazy, especially being at home,' said Sampson, a 6-foot sophomore guard. 'This is huge. Kirkwood is one of our biggest rivals.'

Sampson spurned an offer from Wayne State (Neb.) to play football and decided to walk on at DMACC. He also had an offer to walk on at Kirkwood.

'I actually visited Kirkwood and, like 30 minutes after workout, went and visited DMACC,' said Sampson, who was placed on scholarship at semester break a year ago. 'It worked out well.'

Sampson also gave a clutch foul with 8 seconds left and DMACC clinging to a three-point lead. He fouled Kirkwood's Ajay Lawton, who then drained what would have been a tying 3-pointer. Instead Lawton went to the foul line and made only the second of two free throws.

'Coach told me to foul right after he got past half court,' Sampson said.

'Thank God it wasn't the NBA and continuation.'

Jordan Ashton led Kirkwood with 31 points. Joseph Tagarelli added 24 points and 13 rebounds.

Kirkwood, the leading free-throw shooting team in NJCAA Division II in the country at 81 percent, connected on only 15 of 23 at the foul line for 65.2 percent.

'We're the No. 1 team in the country and we've played 20 basketball games, so it's not a fluke,' Kirkwood Coach Bryan Petersen said. 'We can make foul shots.

'Obviously, if we would have knocked them in it would have helped us, but I think there were some other things that played into it as well.'

Former Linn-Mar prep Matt Lassen scored all 14 of his points in the first half to help Kirkwood to a 40-37 lead.

Kirkwood plays this Saturday at Iowa Central.