By Marissa VanWingen

Late in regulation, Ellsworth Community College led 81-80 and took a three-point advantage on a pair of Christian Johnson free throws. Western Iowa Tech Community College's Isaiah Lloyd knocked down a triple to send the game into overtime.

It was the visitors that carried that momentum into the bonus five minutes and went on top 87-85 before Will Taylor knotted the game at 87-all. Another two freebies by Johnson put the Panthers (23-3, 13-3) on top for the first time, but it would be even one more time at 89-all. Johnson drove the lane for the lead and then with 2.9 seconds left, Jayden Pretty hit a pair of free throws for the 93-89 victory.

The two were tied in the first half at 13-all when the Comets (9-17, 5-12) went on top by two. Back-to-back turnovers resulted in Jonovan Wilkinson baskets to push the hosts to a 19-15 lead. Even again at 24-24, before Eesher Singh Sarai started the Panther scoring spree as ECC led by 10 for the first time at 37-27 on a Pretty basket. The difference swelled to 14 as the hosts shot a blistering 75 percent from the floor and made eight of 11 from beyond the arc for the 47-37 advantage.

The Panthers cooled down in the second half to 45 percent from the floor and just one three-pointer as WIT opened on a run of their own. The Comets cut the deficit to two possession five minutes into the half and continued to linger around. WIT trimmed the deficit down to one with 3:30 left on the clock (75-74) when Jacob Khounsourath drained a triple to keep the hosts out front.

After an offensive charge called on the Panthers turned the ball over, Comet Caleb Kawela made one of his game-high 13 field goals to give WIT the lead at 80-79. Khounsourath's jumper put ECC back on top by one before being tied at 83-83 at the end of the second 20 minutes of play.

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

ICCAC Basketball
Wednesday at Iowa Falls

WIT: 37| 46| 6 – 89
ECC: 47| 36| 10 – 93

ECC Scoring: Jonovan Wilkinson 7 5-8 20; Christian Johnson 2 9-10 14; Jayden Pretty 4 4-7 13; Eesher Singh Sarai 4 2-2 12; Tanner Berggren 3 3-3 12; Jacob Khounsourath 5 0-0 11; Will Taylor 4 1-4 9; Chase Low 1 0-0 2.