MARSHALLTOWN, IOWA -- Ellsworth CC redshirt sophomore Zeke Thompkins waited nearly 45 minutes of gametime before making his only basket of the night, but that bucket came at the best possible time for the Panthers. Thompkins' putback with 15.6 seconds to play in overtime proved to be the game-winner as ECC defeated Marshalltown CC, 90-89, in an entertaining game between the two IVCCD rivals Wednesday night at the Student Activity Center.
The Thompkins field goal capped a game in which both teams had chances to put their opponent away and both kept fighting back, both in the 2nd half and in the 5-minute overtime period. After ECC went on top by a point in the last minute of overtime, they needed one stop and got it, not allowing the Tigers to get a shot off in the final seconds with a clutch defensive effort.
The win puts the Panthers' season record at 9-2.
Ellsworth put together a good 1st half and went to the locker room leading 42-30. They scored the first field goal of the 2nd half for their largest margin of the evening. But Marshalltown started to solve the ECC defense and used a 20-6 run to tie the score at 50-all. The Tigers eventually took a 62-56 lead with just under 7 minutes to play. MCC was still on top after Jaron Crews hit a 3-pointer for the Panthers to cut their deficit to 73-72.
Chimobi Ikegwuruka, playing in his 1st game of the season, made a number of key plays down the stretch and in OT for Ellsworth. The redshirt freshman scored 22 points and grabbed 13 rebounds, 9 on the offensive glass. Ikegwuruka gave ECC a brief lead at 76-75 and Clinton Efinda, who tallied a season-high 20 points, added a free throw, before MCC's Angus Ole was fouled with 0.4 seconds on the clock and drained both foul shots to send the game to overtime tied at 77-77.
After ECC scored the first 6 points of OT, Marshalltown answered with a three, a layup and a pair of FTs and they had an 89-88 lead in the final minute. That's when Thompkins went to work on the offensive board and put in the eventual winning bucket.
Ikegwuruka added 5 blocks to his double-double. Jordan Glenn-Hawkins had 18 points and Cameron Liggins, seeing his first game action in almost a month, supplied 14 points and 8 rebounds.
The No. 9 Panthers head to Sioux City on Saturday night to take on Western Iowa Tech.