By Marissa VanWingen
Coming down to the last seconds, No. 7 DMACC handed Ellsworth Community College their first loss of the season by a 93-90 final.
"There's a reason why they win, and today, that was a heck of a basketball game," Panther head coach Bryan Bender said. "It was a high level basketball game. Hats off to them for getting the win, but at the end of the day, we have to be better at the things we do best."
In the second half there were 10 lead changes. With a minute and a half left to go in the contest, Tanner Berggren drained a triple to give ECC the 86-85 advantage. The Bears than got to the line and made both free throws to lead by one. Will Taylor hit a long ball but DMACC (12-1, 4-0) responded with a triple of their own to go back on top 90-89. Alex Charlotin was fouled and made one of two freebies to even the score at 90-all.
The visitors then hit a long two making it 92-90 and called a timeout. The Panthers had three offensive opportunities to even the score, but missed them all before the Bears grabbed the rebound. Hunter Gawron was sent to the line where he made the first and missed the second with 1.1 left.
ECC (13-1, 4-1) nabbed the rebound and quickly called a timeout. Jonovan Wilkinson got the inbound passed and had a look at the half court shot to send the game into overtime but just missed off the backboard.
The first half was also a nail biter with the largest difference nine points at 34-23. ECC then went into the half scoring 10 unanswered, including a Charlotin make at the buzzer, to trail just 36-35 at the break.
The Panthers opened the second half with all of the momentum. Taylor recorded a dunk followed by an ECC steal and three-pointer by Berggren for the quick five-point swing in their favor. The Bears responded and hit one of their 11 triples and took the one-point lead (41-40) back. The two would continue to go back and forth throughout the entire 20 minutes with neither team earning much breathing room.
For more photos from the games, visit https://www.timescitizen.com/gallery/
ICCAC Basketball
Saturday at Iowa Falls
DMACC: 36| 57 - 93
ECC: 35| 55 - 90
ECC Scoring: Tanner Berggren 7 1-1 20; Will Taylor 6 2-2 17; Jonovan Wilkinson 3 4-4 11; Alex Charlotin 5 1-2 11; Jayden Pretty 4 2-3 10; Dan Pembele 2 6-7 10; Jacob Khounsourath 2 0-0 5; Rav Randhawa 1 0-0 2; Eesher Singh Sarai 0-0 2; Chase Low 1 0-0 2.
