DANVILLE, ILLINOIS -- In a wildly entertaining contest Wednesday night, the Ellsworth Panthers prevailed in overtime in a shootout with Milwaukee Area Tech to earn a spot in the semifinals of the NJCAA DII National Championship. The Panthers got a free throw from Clinton Efinda with one second left in regulation to send the game to overtime, then outscored the Stormers, the defending national champs, 20-12 in the extra session to survive with a 121-113 victory. ECC now gets a well-deserved day off before facing the winner of a Thursday contest between 2 Illinois schools -- South Suburban and Parkland -- in the semis Friday night at 8:00.
This was a game the Panthers seemingly had control of, leading 88-71 with just over 8 minutes to play. They had increased a 52-35 halftime lead to as many as 26 points and had kept the advantage above 12 for a good portion of the 2nd half. But a furious comeback by Milwaukee Area Tech in which they outscored ECC 21-5 in one stretch allowed the Stormers to crawl to within a point at 93-92 with 4:33 remaining.
On a night in which Ellsworth attempted 53 free throws, it was free throws that played a huge part for them in the final minutes of regulation and, especially, in overtime. Jordan Glenn-Hawkins connected on 2 shots from the stripe for a little breathing room at 95-92. The Stormers tied the score at 95-all before Jaron Crews' free throw put Ellsworth on top momentarily. A couple of free throws and a layup by MAT pushed them on top by 3, 99-96, but Efinda drilled 2 at the line with 54 seconds on the clock and then, after a turnover, he hit 2 more with the clock at 19 seconds and ECC led 100-99. Shelton Williams-Dryden, who led the Stormers with 31 points, hit a jumper with 6 seconds to play to put them ahead, 101-100. Bessanty Saragba was fouled with a second on the clock and made the 1st shot, but missed the 2nd to send to game to OT tied at 101.
Chimobi Ikegwuruka opened the OT scoring with 2 from the line and the Panthers tallied the first 9 points of the overtime period. Milwaukee Area Tech didn't score for the first 2:06 of the extra period and Ellsworth nailed 11 foul shots in OT. Cameron Liggins put the exclamation mark on the win with a dunk just before the final buzzer.
ECC had great balance with 5 players scoring at least 18 points. Efinda led the way with 25, Liggins and Ikegwuruka had 21 each, Glenn-Hawkins 20 and Arlandus Keyes 18 off the bench. Efinda and Ikegwuruka both pulled down 10 rebounds. Three Panthers fouled out and the teams combined for 57 fouls and 89 free throw attempts. Ellsworth had a large advantage there, making 38-of-53 to 18-of-36 for the Stormers. Their top 2 scorers, Williams-Dryden and Shamann Artis, had 31 and 29 points, respectively.
A day after they opened their tournament run by missing their 1st 11 3-point attempts before finally hitting one in the last minute, the Panthers went 11-for-24 from behind the arc.
Ellsworth trailed early 16-9 before using an 18-0 run to take control in the opening period. They grew the lead to 42-35 with around 4 minutes left in the half on a three by Liggins. The largest lead came after a bucket by Ikegwuruka made it 68-42. The big MAT comeback started at the 8-minute mark of the 2nd half. They scored a whopping 66 points in the 2nd half, but they weren't enough. The Panthers were eventually able to withstand the rally and emerge with their 29th win of the season, one away from the school record. Now, they'll get a chance to tie the mark in the semis on Friday night.