IOWA FALLS, IOWA -- Visiting Iowa Lakes CC led from nearly start-to-finish in capturing an ICCAC road win against No. 7-ranked Ellsworth CC Wednesday night at Dittmer Gym. The Lakers, undefeated in 4 conference games, used a healthy advantage in shooting stats and on the boards in handling the Panthers, 92-74, as both teams returned to action for the 2023 portion of their schedules.
ECC head coach Bryan Bender tipped his cap to Iowa Lakes, saying, "They dominated the game on the glass, in the paint and from the 3-point line. They killed us on the glass and made season-high numbers from 3 and the field." Iowa Lakes won the board battle, 47-26, made 58 percent of their shots, connected on 13-of-21 3-point tries, and won handily despite commiting 27 turnovers.
"It was obviously a difficult game to lose," Bender said, "after a 2-and-a-half-week break. We anticipated being at full strength but had an injury-prone week of practice and we're down a few pieces."
The ECC coach noted his team got great production from Dior Davis and Arlandus Keyes, who led the Panthers with 25 and 17 points, respectively. Davis's total was a season-high and he added 5 rebounds, 4 assists and 6 steals. Davis followed up one of those steals with a dunk that gave ECC a 12-10 lead after Iowa Lakes opened the game on an 8-0 run. Davis later registered a 4-point play to provide Ellsworth with its final lead before the Lakers regrouped to go ahead, 45-34, at the break.
The Panthers made only 38 percent of their field goal attempts, just 6-of-23 3s and even though they had 20 more free throw tries than ILCC, ECC couldn't take advantage the disparity, shooting only 56 percent at the stripe.
"I am disappointed with the result," Bender explained, "especially in front of a packed house. We are grateful for our community showing up and showing out. I can't thank them enough for coming and supporting our program at such a high level. We will regroup and get back to our identity of playing with more passion, more together and more disciplined on the defensive end."
Bender promised the Panthers, now 13-3 and 3-2 in the league, will refocus and be ready to go in their next challenge when they play at No. 3 Kirkwood on Jan. 11.
