Missed freethrows doom Kirkwood in loss to Indian Hills

CEDAR RAPIDS - Kirkwood had the right guys in the right place at the right time, but the outcome was all wrong.

Kirkwood missed the front end of three bonus free throws in the final minute of its junior college men's basketball game last night against Indian Hills and suffered a 59-57 loss at Johnson Hall.

The Eagles led for all but the final eight seconds. They had three of their top free-throw shooters - Brennan Cougill, Michael Weber and Louis Cox - at the free-throw line in the last minute. All three missed. Kirkwood (4-3) also had a pair of turnovers, the last with around 10 seconds left in the game that led to the go-ahead basket by Indian Hills' Dijon Farr.

“That's like having five turnovers,” Kirkwood Coach Doug Wagemester said of the final minute, when the Eagles blew a five-point lead. “I'll bet you by the end of the season all three of those guys are shooting over 80 percent from the free-throw line.”

Cougill, who played his freshman year last season at Iowa, was dominating in the middle. He scored 15 points, pulled down nine rebounds and blocked two shots in 29 minutes.

“This hurts a lot,” said Cougill, a 6-foot-9 post and former Iowa Mr. Basketball at Sioux City Heelan. “We played well enough to win for 39 minutes, but it comes down to three missed free throws. We missed three big ones.”

Indian Hills Coach Jeff Kidder ran a pair of 6-8 sophomores at Cougill to try to contain him.

“We had no answer for that big kid of theirs,” he said. “We got whipped for 37 minutes. We were fortunate they missed those free throws in the bonus situations.”

Kirkwood entered the game ranked No. 15 in the NJCAA Division II poll. Indian Hills (7-0) was No. 11 in Division I. But it was the Eagles, fueled by sophomore guard Jordan Gentry from Sioux City East, who jetted to a 12-0 lead. Gentry had seven of his game-high 16 points during the run.

“Gentry was a big spark,” said Cougill, who hit his only 3-pointer during that span.

The Eagles' lead was 10 at halftime and 12 with 11:14 left in the game. That's when Indian Hills went to a zone press that helped slowly chip away at Kirkwood's lead.

“I didn't want to press until the final three minutes because I thought we might be a little tired,” said Kidder, whose team played three straight nights over the weekend. “The kids never gave up. They believed they were going to win.”

Kirkwood plays another Division I foe Saturday when it hosts Southeastern at 6 p.m. at Johnson Hall. The Eagles have a return date against Indian Hills Dec. 8 in Ottumwa.