By Marissa VanWingen

When sixth-ranked Ellsworth Community College and Iowa Lakes Community College played in Estherville, the Panthers had to hold on for 78-72 victory. In Dittmer Gymnasium, it was not nearly as close.

The Lakers (3-21, 1-13) had a brief lead in the first half (6-5) before Will Taylor drained a triple for the hosts. That jumpstarted ECC's offense as they went on a scoring spree. The Panthers (21-3, 11-3) went on a 21-0 run that included eight points by Tanner Berggren and a rare four-point play by Christian Johnson. At the 11:30 mark, Iowa Lakes finally ended their basket drought with a three to make it 26-9.

The visitors were able to cut into the difference, but another Berggren triple extended the lead back to 18 in the first 20 minutes. He had 16 points at the half and made four of his five baskets from beyond the arc. That helped the Panthers head into the break on top 43-29.

ECC started out slow to open the next 20 minutes as the Lakers battled back to an 11-point deficit, but once again Berggren got the team out of the slump. He hit his first of three in a row to extend the lead back up to 18.

The lead continued to swell in the second half and was 25 and then reached 30 just under a minute left to go in the contest. The win allowed the Panthers to record the season sweep over the last place team in the ICCAC.

Eleven different ECC players scored. Berggren's 25 led all scoring while both Chase Low (12) and Jonovan Wilkinson (12) were also in double figures.

For more photos from the game, visit https://www.timescitizen.com/gallery/

ICCAC Basketball
Wednesday at Iowa Falls

ILCC: 29| 30 – 59
ECC: 43| 46 – 89

ECC Scoring: Tanner Berggren 9 2-2 25; Chase Low 6 0-0 12; Jonovan Wilkinson 5 1-2 12; Will Taylor 3 2-4 9; Eesher Singh Sarai 2 2-4 8; Jacob Khounsourath 3 0-0 7; Collins Ngondu 3 0-0 6; Christian Johnson 1 1-1 4; McKale McGonigal 1 0-0 3; Ryland Ubben 1 0-0 2; Jayden Pretty 0 1-2 1.