IOWA FALLS, IOWA -- Ellsworth CC poured in 69 first-half points, placed 6 players in double figures and routed the William Penn junior varsity squad, 120-86, at Dittmer Gym on Tuesday night.  The win came in the home- and season-opener and marked new coach Bryan Bender's first game as ECC head coach.

The Panthers ran away to a 69-41 lead at intermission and the 120 points they scored were 28 more than the most tallied in a contest last year.  Bender was able to celebrate win No. 1 at ECC after spending the past 4 seasons as the head coach at Southwest Mississippi Community College.

Thirteen players scored for the Panthers and nearly half reached double digits, led by Shawn Fulcher's 19 points.  Fulcher came off the bench for his team-high total as did Diondre Taylor, who had 14, and Issakha Niang, who scored 13.  Fulcher was 7-for-11 from the field, Taylor 4-for-6 and Niang 6-for-8.  Taylor drained 4 of Ellsworth's 9 3-pointers.  ECC made over 56 percent of its shots (45-for-80) and pulled down 68 rebounds.  There were 14 different players who grabbed at least one board, led by Niang with 11. 

Starters Jordan Glenn-Hawkins (14), Dior Davis (13) and Bruce Kanno (11) also were in double digits in scoring.  Ellsworth had 30 assists on its 45 made field goals.  Rich Ashu contributed 3 of his squad's 11 blocked shots.

The Panthers go on the road for the first time when they travel to Mason City this weekend to take part in a tourney hosted by NIACC.  ECC will battle Itasca (Minn.) CC on Friday and Black Hawk (Ill.)-Moline on Saturday.