Panthers fall on the road in Estherville

Four players were in double figures for ECC in the loss to Iowa Lakes, led by Jonovan Wilkinson?s 19 points. Photo by Marissa VanWingen.
Four players were in double figures for ECC in the loss to Iowa Lakes, led by Jonovan Wilkinson’s 19 points. Photo by Marissa VanWingen.
Posted: Jan 12, 2025

By Marissa VanWingen, The Times Citizen

Ellsworth Community College has struggled on the road at Iowa Lakes Community College. Other than the postseason, the Panthers have not won there since 2012 and had lost 16 games in a row to the Lakers.

In the first meeting between the two squads this season, the unranked Iowa Lakes (10-7, 3-5) upset the No. 9 Panthers 86-78.

In the recent installment of the rivalry, ECC never led. They found themselves down by as many as 17 with eight minutes left in the first half and were trailing 45-37 heading into the locker room.

The visitors got to within two possessions early in the second half but could never get over the hump. Iowa Lakes went on a run and extended the lead back to 13 (61-48). With four minutes left to go in the game, Rollings Kamanda cut the difference to 74-71 and then were within one with under two minutes to go.

The Lakers made a big basket with 1:14 on the clock to extend the lead to four and then back-to-back ECC turnovers led to easy buckets for the hosts to put an exclamation point on the game.

Jhoardan Ryan led all scoring with 20 points and 17 rebounds for the hosts.

ECC was paced by four in doubles figures. Jonovan Wilkinson finished with 19 and Willie Patterson III had 18.

Iowa Lakes crashed the boards, outrebounding the Panthers by 11.

ECC is going to have to have a short memory when they host No. 2 Kirkwood on Wednesday. With the loss, the Panthers were passed by both the Eagles and DMACC in the ICCAC standings.

For more on ECC Athletics, click here: https://linkprotect.cudasvc.com/url?a=https%3a%2f%2fwww.timescitizen.com%2fsports%2fecc%2f&c=E,1,vLgCsIBPRQn7pH_31ARRI5Ie2KoeBVUDlmuXBXGJb2SgbfHx5Km2ALX5esobfJscNdNbw4H6ldROIdPytJWoCemzNU6MUsn6RfzFxqxrmFo,&typo=1

ICCAC Basketball
Saturday at Estherville

ECC: 37| 41 – 78
ILCC: 45| 41 – 86

ECC Scoring: Jonovan Wilkinson 7 3-7 19; Willie Patterson III 8 2-4 18; Tanner Berggren 4 0-0 11; Rollings Kamanda 4 2-3 10; Taevean Famutimi-Brown 3 2-4 9; Rav Randhawa 3 1-3 7; Hubert Bayigamba 1 0-0 2; Themba Tshuma 1 0-0 2.