MASON CITY, Iowa –Kendale Dunn (So., Cleveland, OH) came off the bench to score 18 points to pace the Trojans as the NIACC men defeated the Southwestern Community College Spartans 69-56 in their conference home opener on Saturday.
The win moved NIACC to 9-8 overall and 1-1 in the Iowa Community College Athletic Conference (ICCAC).
Dunn went seven-for-nine (78%) from the field and added 10 rebounds. Darius Wilson (Fr., Dowagiac, MI) scored all 16 points of his points in the second half and Chris Davis (Fr., Colorado Springs, CO) had a double digit point total for the 15th time this season by scoring 12.
Southwestern was led by freshman center Devin Kastrup with 15 points.
Defensively, NIACC held the ICCAC’s top scorer Marquealis Edwards to only 10 points. Edwards, who averages 18 points per game, got into early foul trouble and only scored three points in the first half. He picked up his three fouls ten minutes into the game.
NIACC turned what was 17-4 deficit eight minutes into the game into a 32-24 halftime lead behind 10 points by Dunn. Southwestern only made three field goals in the last 10:27 of the first half, which aided the 28-7 run by NIACC.
Both teams shot 42.9 percent from the field in the second half. Wilson’s 16 points came off a five-of-ten half, and helped push NIACC’s lead to as many as 19. The Spartans did knock cut the lead to 60-51 with less than three minutes to go in the second, but gave up a 9-0 run to seal the game for NIACC.
The Trojans will travel to Clinton Community College on Wednesday. Tip-off is at 7 p.m.
