DANVILLE, ILLINOIS -- Ellsworth's bid to play for a national title for the first time in more than 50 years came up short Friday night when South Suburban College knocked off the Panthers, 89-75, in a semifinal game at the NJCAA DII National Championship.  ECC didn't have an answer for the Bulldogs' Jemel Jones, who scored 46 points, over half his team's total.  The Panthers will have one more chance to reach the 30-win mark when they take on Davidson- Davie, the No. 1 seed, in the 3rd place game Saturday at 5:00.  Davidson-Davie lost to National Park College in the other semifinal.

From the time Jones hit a 3-pointer in the first minute of the contest, Ellsworth never led in their battle with South Suburban.  A Jaron Crews basket got the Panthers on the scoreboard but the Bulldogs scored the next 7 points.  Ellsworth struggled to get the deficit under 10 points for most of the first half and was down 14 at intermission, 51-37.

South Suburban got the second-half scoring started with a bucket in the first minute to lead by 16.  ECC fought back, getting to within 8 points on a pair of free throws by Cameron Liggins.  A dunk by Chimobi Ikegwuruka made it 62-55, Jordan Glenn-Hawkins' layup shaved 2 more points off the SSC lead, and Ikegwuruka scored inside to leave the Panthers down 62-59 with 9:45 still to play.  After a Bulldog field goal, Arlandus Keyes drained a 3-pointer and ECC trailed 64-62 at the 9:16 mark.  But the Panthers never got closer.

South Suburban tallied the next 6 points for some breathing room and eventually built the lead back up to 17 with 2:13 remaining.

Ellsworth had 22 field goals to 33 for the Bulldogs, 15 of them by Jones, who also made 12 free throws.  The Panthers did a good job staying as close as they did by connecting on 26-of-32 from the foul line.  

Crews paced ECC with 17 points and he added 6 rebounds.  Liggins scored 16.  Glenn-Hawkins and Ikegwuruka both had 11 points and 9 rebounds and Ikegwuruka blocked 6 shots.

ECC is 29-7 and can tie the program record for wins in a season with a victory in the 3rd place contest.