MASON CITY - The Kirkwood men's basketball team is one victory away  from clinching the No. 1 seed for the regional tournament later this  month.

The 11th-ranked Eagles topped 13th-ranked NIACC, 97-84, Saturday in an  ICCAC conference showdown in Mason City as Devonte Thedford, DJ  Purnell, Luke Appel and Seybian Sims combined for 81 points.

Kirkwood remained tied for the conference lead with ninth-ranked DMACC  with 11-2 records with one game left in the regular season. If the  Eagles defeat Iowa Central at home next Saturday, they'll clinch the  top seed for the regional tournament because they own the tiebreaker  over DMACC.

Thedford scored 24 points, Purnell netted 22, Appel contributed 19 and  Sims added 16 to lead the attack Saturday. Appel grabbed 13 rebounds  for a double-double and Purnell snared nine caroms. Thedford shot  12-for-12 at the foul line and Purnell was 8-for-8.

Trey Sampson scored 21 points and Deundra Roberson had 20 for NIACC  (21-6, 7-5).

KIRKWOOD (97): Seybian Sims 7-8 0-0 16, Devonte Thedford 6-10 12-12,  Luke Appel 7-14 3-6 19, Jamal Stephenson 2-8 3-5 7, DJ Purnell 7-13  8-8 22, Brady Sartorius 0-0 0-0 0, Gacoby Jones 3-3 0-0 6, Griff Clark  1-7 0-0 3, Niko Gosnell 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 33-63 26-31 97.

NIACC (84): Deundra Roberson 8-22 4-5 20, McKelary Robertson 1-1 0-0  2, Wendell Matthews 3-7 0-0 6, Quentin Hardrict 6-11 1-4 14, Trey  Sampson 8-14 4-5 21, James Harris 1-4 5-6 8, Marshaun Carroll 3-6 2-2  10, Chandler Dean 1-5 0-0 3. Totals 31-70 16-22 84.

Halftime - Kirkwood 47, NIACC 40. 3-point goals - Kirkwood 5-17 (Sims  2-3, Appel 2-5, Stephenson 0-2, Clark 1-7), NIACC 6-13 (Roberson 0-2,  Hardrict 1-2, Sampson 1-2, Harris 1-2, Carroll 2-2, Dean 1-3).