By Marissa VanWingen, The Times Citizen
It took until late in the second half before ninth-ranked Ellsworth Community College was able to build a double-digit lead over the hosts and leave Sioux City with the 82-70 win.
The Panthers go into the new year on a five-game winning streak.
To start the game, it looked like it was going to be a walk in the park for the visitors. ECC (13-2, 4-1) jumped out to a 7-0 lead before the Comets (3-11, 0-5) started to chip away at the deficit and with 11 minutes left in the half were within one. The first tie was at 18-all and WIT went on top 20-18.
Down by four, Quez Curry Jr. drained a long ball and then the Panthers turned back-to-back Comet turnovers into dunks – one by Rollings Kamanda and the other from Enki Diarra-Gentes to lead by three (27-24). The two would be even one more time – at 33-33. Jonovan Wilkinson threw up a half-court shot at the buzzer that went in to send ECC into the locker room with the three-point edge.
The visitors were unable to gain much separation in the second half, leading by eight on a Rav Randhawa make (63-55) before WIT went on an 8-2 run to cut the deficit to two with four and a half minutes to go. Out of the timeout, Tre Burris drained a field goal to give the Panthers a little more breathing room. ECC then went on a scoring spree of their own - 11-0 - punctuated by a Kamanda basket, to go up by double digits.
Burris led the Panthers with 18 points and seven rebounds. Kamanda recorded a double-double with 11 points and 10 boards while Randhawa was also in double-digit scoring with 12 points.
For more on ECC Athletics, visit: https://linkprotect.cudasvc.com/url?a=https%3a%2f%2fwww.timescitizen.com%2fsports%2fecc%2f&c=E,1,wLXSei88e9uRzDUNIMN5YiEmwkZXCQpohKLesTSOVHrc3wUGwx4cE3_l0xazn4veXl7PCundMDVDoX8_IjL2KN0XYPYY-OUUPzEbxB1x9FjMDF43TxGB&typo=1
ICCAC Basketball
Wednesday at Sioux City
ECC: 36| 46 – 82
WIT: 33| 37 – 70
ECC Scoring: Tre Burris 8 2-4 18; Rav Randhawa 5 2-3 12; Rollings Kamanda 5 1-2 11; Jonovan Wilkinson 3 2-2 9; Willie Patterson III 2 3-4 7; Enki Diarra-Gentes 3 0-0 6; Tanner Berggren 2 0-0 6; Eesher Singh Sarai 2 0-1 4; Hubert Bayigamba 1 0-0 3; Themba Tshuma 1 1-2 3; Quez Curry Jr 1 0-0 3.