By Marissa VanWingen

Ellsworth Community College traveled to Council Bluffs on Saturday and in a top-15 showdown came out on top, 85-80, over Iowa Western Community College.

The sixth-ranked Panthers (17-2, 8-2) jumped out to a 7-1 lead on an Eesher Singh Sarai triple before the Reivers came back to even the score at 11-11 and flipped the run. The hosts scored 12 in a row to lead by nine (20-11) before a free throw by Jayden Pretty ended the Panthers scoring drought.

No. 11 Iowa Western had as large as a 12-point lead (30-18) with just over six and a half minutes left to go. The rest of the half, ECC outscored the hosts 14-2 and Singh Sarai's layup evened the game at 32-32 at the break.

After being even twice to start the second half, the Panthers pulled out to a 47-40 lead on a Pretty jumper with 13:19 left in the game. The Reivers would cut the deficit to three but ECC once again pulled away and with a dunk by Singh Sarai reached a double figure advantage (55-45). It would remain a double figure game until the final 38 seconds. A triple with 15 seconds on the made it a two possession game and Iowa Western (16-3, 7-3) missed a pair of chances to cut into the difference, giving the Panthers the victory.

Singh Sarai, a sophomore from British Columbia, Canada shot 75 percent from the floor to finish with 29 points and was one rebound shy of a double-double, nabbing nine. Along with Singh Sarai, Pretty finished with 11 points and nine rebounds and Jonovan Wilkinson had 10 points.

ECC will host NIACC (Wednesday) and Northeast (Saturday) in Dittmer Gymnasium this week.

For more on ECC Athletics, visit https://www.timescitizen.com/sports/ecc/

ICCAC Basketball
Saturday at Council Bluffs

ECC: 32| 53 - 85
IWCC: 32| 48 - 80

ECC Scoring: Eesher Singh Sarai 12 3-5 29; Jayden Pretty 4 2-4 11; Jonovan Wilkinson 4 2-5 10; Rav Randhawa 3 3-5 0; Tanner Berggren 2 2-2 8; Will Taylor 3 1-2 7; Christian Johnson 1 3-4 5; Jacob Khounsourath 2 0-0 4; Chase Low 1 0-0 2.