NIACC men open league tournament at Kirkwood

CEDAR RAPIDS - The NIACC men's basketball team faces No. 12 Kirkwood at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday in the opening round of the NJCAA Region XI tournament.

NIACC (16-14 overall, 3-9 in the ICCAC) enters the tournament as the No. 7 seed. Kirkwood (23-6, 9-3) is the No. 2 seed.

The winner of Tuesday's opening-round contest faces either third-seed Iowa Lakes or sixth-seed Iowa Central at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday in the semifinals.

Kirkwood won both regular season meetings with NIACC. The Eagles won 68-60 in Mason City and 81-63 in Cedar Rapids.

It will be the sixth time the two teams have met in the regional tournament - the last being in the 2013-14 season with the Eagles winning in 75-71 overtime.

Regional tournament pairings

Tuesday's games

7 p.m. - (8) Little Priest Tribal College at (1) Southwestern

7 p.m. - (5) DMACC at (4) Ellsworth

7 p.m. - (6) Iowa Central at (3) Iowa Lakes

7:30 p.m. - (7) NIACC at (2) Kirkwood