January 20, 2021
No.1 Kirkwood men bounced in opener
Metro Sports Report
BOONE - The people who vote in the NJCAA men's basketball poll thought the Kirkwood Eagles deserved to be ranked No.1 in the country despite having only one letterman back from last year and 14 newcomers on the squad.
That shiny ranking may have jinxed the Eagles Wednesday night.
Kirkwood succumbed to DMACC, 75-70, in the season opener at Boone in an ICCAC conference affair.
Blake Brinkmeyer, a transfer from Indiana State, led Kirkwood with 18 points. Cortaviaus Seales scored 14 points for the Eagles and his brother, Corvon Seales, netted 13 points in his debut since transferring from Mankato State.
Chris Burnell, the only letterman from last year's club, chipped in with 10 points.
Ryan Schmitt scored 20 points for DMACC, including a 10-for-10 showing at the foul line. Neither team missed a free throw in the entire game. DMACC finished 19-for-19 and Kirkwood was 10-for-10.
Kirkwood hosts Northeast Community College Saturday at 3 p.m. at Johnson Hall.
KIRKWOOD (70): Noah King 2 3-3 8, Chris Burnell 2 4-4 10, Corvon
Seales 5 0-0 13, Jaden Keller 2 0-0 4, Blake Brinkmeyer 8 1-1 18,
Cartaviaus Seales 5 2-2 14, Caleb Delzell 0 0-0 0, Da'Quavion Walker 0
0-0 0, Joich Gong 0 1-1 1, Blessin Kimble 2 0-0 4. Totals 26 11-11 72.
DMACC (75): Willie Guy 3 4-4 10, Christian Haffner 1 2-2 5, Goanar
Biliew 6 0-0 13, Zach Hobbs 3 0-0 8, Ryan Schmitt 5 10-10 20, Devin
Wade-Henderson 0 0-0 0, Jean Francois 3 0-0 6, Mark Bradshaw 3 3-3 10.
Totals 24 19-19 72.
Halftime - DMACC 28, Kirkwood 22. 3-point goals - Kirkwood 9 (Corvon
Seales 3, Cortaviaus Seales 2, Burnell 2, King 1, Brinkmeyer 1), DMACC
5 (Hobbs 2, Haffner 1, Biliew 1, Bradshaw 1).
