By Marissa VanWingen, The Times-Citizen
Marshalltown, IA – At rivals Marshalltown Community College, the two were tied 11 times and there were seven lead changes before the hosts held on for the 72-67 win.
With 15 and a half minutes left to go in the game, Ellsworth Community College's (17-10) Enki Diarra-Gentes drained a basket to give the Panthers their largest lead of the game, 48-40. Back-to-back MCC (12-15) three-balls and a pair of free throws cut the deficit to two. In the final eight minutes the lead would exchange hands four times with four even scores. The final ECC advantage would be 66-65 on a Tre Burris free throw. Tiger Jayden Hill would steal the rock and even the game and then take the 68-66 lead.
The hosts would not trail again making a pair of free throws late and the Panthers unable to connect from outside.
The first half had three early ties and then MCC made a run and built a seven point lead (14-7) went the Panthers went cold. Diarra-Gentes ended the dry spell with a three-pointer with 11:24 left in the first half. ECC battled back and a Rollings Kamanda basket gave the visitors their first lead (25-24) of the contest. The Tigers would lead 36-33 before Rav Randhawa was sent to the line and made the first free throw. He missed the second but Themba Tshuma got the rebound and the putback to knot the score at 36-36 after 20 minutes.
Four different ECC players were in double figures for the Panthers, led by Taevean Famutimi-Brown with 15, Randhawa with 14 and then Diarra-Gentes and Kamanda both with 11. The Panthers shot just 56 percent from the charity stripe and were six of 20 from beyond the three-point line.
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