By Marissa VanWingen
At times it looked like Ellsworth Community College (25-7) was going to run away with the NJCAA Division II Men's Basketball second round game versus South Suburban inside the Mary Miller Center on Tuesday afternoon. The Panthers ended up holding on for the 89-84 victory.
To start the game there were nine lead changes between the two squads. With 11:29 left to go in the opening half Alex Charlotin's drive extended the lead to three (17-14).
Later the Panthers were on top 22-21 when Jayden Pretty knocked down a triple and jumpstarted the ECC offense. The eight-seed went on multiple runs throughout the first 20 minutes, including 12-2 and then another of 11-0 to lead 48-33 at the break.
The Panthers saw its lead dissipate in the second half. With a 15-point difference, the Bulldogs slowly chipped away at the deficit. Their first triple of the game rang the bottom of the nets to make it 50-40.
Following a double technical, South Suburban seemed to have all the momentum and forced multiple turnovers and empty possessions by the Panthers. After a traveling call on ECC, the Bulldogs responded with a basket to cut the lead to six (54-48).
Tanner Fields and Isaiah Green were quiet in the first half but caught fire in the second combining for 37 of the team's 51 points. Fields cut the difference to 54-50 before Charlotin ended the scoring drought by the Panthers. A basket and a harm extended the lead back up to seven.
At the line, ECC was eight of eight in the final two minutes and 28 of 35 for the contest to hold on for the win.
Pretty led the Panthers with 23 points, followed by Eesher Singh Sarai with 22 and Charlotin with 19. Charlotin had missed 19 games due to a broken elbow and was cleared to played just days before Nationals.
"Our depth is our strength which gears us well for a national tournament," ECC coach Bryan Bender said. "We have a very good team and we have a complete team. We can play a lot of different ways and that gears us for success to get us to this national tournament and now we're here and we just have to keep winning and keep moving forward."
ECC advanced to play ICCAC foe, DMACC, in the Elite Eight. That game will be played at 6 p.m. today (Wednesday). There will be a watch party in the Panther Den for those that can't make the trip to Danville.
For more on ECC Athletics, visit https://www.timescitizen.com/sports/ecc/
NJCAA National Tournament
Tuesday at Danville, Ill.
ECC: 48| 41 – 89
SSC: 33| 51 – 84
ECC Scoring: Jayden Pretty 7 8-9 23; Eesher Singh Sarai 9 5-8 22; Alex Charlotin 5 9-12 19; Jonovan Wilkinson 4 2-2 10; Will Taylor 2 0-0 4; Jacob Khounsourath 0 4-4 4; Tanner Berggren 1 0-0 3; Chase Low 1 0-0 2; Collins Ngondu 1 0-0 2.