ESTHERVILLE, IOWA -- A 59-point second half, monster games from Clinton Efinda and Bessanty Saragba and prolific free throw shooting have the Ellsworth Panthers making plans for their first national tournament appearance in 38 years. ECC trailed Iowa Lakes 46-33 at halftime, then overwhelmed the Lakers 59-33 over the final 20 minutes to post a 92-84 victory, earning the Region XI postseason title and an automatic berth in the NJCAA DII National Championship in Danville, Illinois.
The win allowed the Panthers to end a number of streaks, including a 17-game losing streak to Iowa Lakes, a streak of at least 15 consecutive defeats on the Lakers' home floor, and, most importantly, a streak of nearly 4 decades without a national tourney game, dating back to the 1985-86 season. This will mark only the 4th time an Ellsworth men's basketball team has qualified for the tournament.
Efinda poured in a game-high and season-high 30 points to lead the Panthers and he was named the tournament MVP. Saragba's double-double included a season-best 19 points and 10 boards. He also made the all-tourney team and scored in double-digits in all 3 postseason tourney contests, scoring 42 points and grabbing 26 rebounds. Jordan Glenn-Hawkins greatly helped the Ellsworth cause with 16 points, 5 rebounds and 3 steals. And Jaron Crews chipped in 12 points and was the 3rd ECC player on the all-tournament squad.
Crews buried all 8 of his free-throw attempts, helping ECC to a 28-5 bulge in made foul shots. The Panthers went 28-of-41 at the stripe to 5-of-13 for the Lakers. Iowa Lakes's first half included 7 3-pointers, one of which gave them their biggest advantage of the game, 16 points. By contrast, Ellsworth failed to make a three in the opening half and ended the game with 4 makes from behind the arc.
The Panthers battled back from the halftime deficit and finally drew even at 78-all. From there they outscored the Lakers, 14-6, in the final minutes and made enough free throws to nail down the victory.
Ellsworth got only 8 points from its bench, but that was the difference in the final score.
Second-year ECC coach Bryan Bender had seen his teams drop the first 5 games they played against Iowa Lakes, part of that 17-game losing streak to ILCC, but saw the Panthers get their biggest win in a long time.
Ellsworth is 27-6 heading into the national tournament and they'll learn their first-round opponent when the NJCAA holds its Selection Show on Tuesday, Mar. 12, at 1pm. The tourney will run from Mar. 18-23 at the Mary Miller Center in Danville.