By Marissa VanWingen
No. 9 Ellsworth Community College and No. 2 DMACC needed an extra five minute period to decide a winner on Wednesday night.
In the end, it was the Bears (29-1, 20-0) on top, 84-74.
The first 40 minutes of the game was a nailbiter with neither team getting much of an advantage. In the first half, ECC (24-6, 14-6) went on an 8-0 run and on a Jayden Pretty tip led 15-14. The largest Panther lead was 27-20 on a three-pointer from Singh Sarai. DMACC cut the deficit to three (33-30) and ECC would go into the break with the 35-30 lead.
The two were tied four times throughout the second half. The largest deficit was a 64-56 Bear lead. Later Jonovan Wilkinson connected on a three-pointer followed by a Singh Sarai make from beyond the arc to make it 68-65 with 3:17 on the clock. The Panthers trailed 71-67 and then intercepted a bad pass that resulted in Will Taylor's first of two baskets down low.
Down 71-69, ECC stole the rock and went coast-to-coast for a Taylor bucket and evened the score at 71-all. Both teams missed the go-ahead baskets and with 26.5 left in regulation, the Bears nabbed a rebound and were able to drain as much time off the clock as they could. The Panthers had fouls to give and got the foul with 2.4 seconds left. DMACC had one last shot attempt and missed from three-point range sending the contest into overtime.
The two went back and forth to start the extra period. The pair were even one more time at 73-73 on an Eesher Singh Sarai putback. DMACC's Kaden Tate made a basket to give the hosts the slight edge and then they went five of six from the line. A long ball from Rylan Smith pushed the advantage to eight with 33 seconds remaining. The Bears outscored ECC 13-3 through that five minutes to remain unbeaten in ICCAC action.
With the loss, the Panthers secured the third seed in the Region XI-B Tournament. ECC will host the first round game versus Northeast Community College on Saturday and then the winner will play in the Region XI-B Final on Tuesday, March 3.
For more on ECC Athletics, visit https://www.timescitizen.com/sports/ecc/
ICCAC Basketball
Wednesday at Boone
ECC: 35| 36| 3 – 74
DMACC: 30| 41| 13 – 84
ECC Scoring: Jonovan Wilkinson 9 2-3 24; Eesher Singh Sarai 7 0-0 16; Tanner Berggren 4 2-4 12; Jayden Pretty 5 0-1 11; Will Taylor 3 2-4 8; Christian Johnson 1 0-0 2; Jacob Khounsourath 0 1-2 1.