By Marissa VanWingen, The Times Citizen
The four men's teams playing at the Dale Howard Classic had no losses on their ledgers coming into the tournament. They are all either rated in the preseason polls or receiving votes.
Seventh ranked Ellsworth Community College suffered its first loss of the season at the hands of Macomb Community College. The fourth-ranked Monarchs recorded wins over the Panthers (85-73) and Iowa Western (87-76).
On day two, the hosts bounced back to defeat No. 13 Bay College, 83-77.
ECC (3-1) was down by as many as eight early in the first half. Bene Martinkus hit one of his first of five tres in the contest to get within one (37-36). Another long ball by Martinkus gave the Panthers their first lead. A bucket and bonus by the Norse (2-2) made it 42-41 at the break.
The hosts came out in the second taking the lead on an Enki Diarra-Gentes bucket before they went on a 6-1 run to lead by four. The advantage swelled to nine on an old fashioned three-point play from Themba Tshuma (57-48). Bay slowly crept back in and knotted the score at 62-62. The two would be even one more time, 64-all with just over seven minutes to go in the game. Jonovan Wilkinson was sent to the charity stripe where he made both free throws to give the hosts the lead for good. Down the stretch, ECC was 11 of 14 from the line. The Panthers were 28 of 40 for the game and there were 50 fouls called between the two squads.
Thirteen different players saw the floor for ECC and nine scored. They were led by their bench with 51 combined points and both players in double figures. Taevean Famutini-Brown and Martinkus both finished with 17 points. Martinkus was the lone Panther to hit a three-ball, as a team they were just five of 22 from beyond the arc.
In the first top 10 showdown of the season, the Panthers found themselves down by 18 at the half to Macomb (3-0). The Monarchs shot 47 percent from the floor and hit seven three-pointers. The visitors also nabbed 10 more rebounds than ECC. Five players were in double figures by Macomb.
The Panthers shot 39 percent from the floor and were 18 percent from beyond the arc. Once again there were lots of fouls called, 28 between the two.
Offensively, Famutini-Brown led ECC with 20 points. Tre Burris was also in double figures with 15 and Rollings Kamanda added 13.
For more photos from the tournament, click here: https://linkprotect.cudasvc.com/url?a=https%3a%2f%2fwww.timescitizen.com%2fgallery%2f11-9-24-dale-howard-classic-w-m-basketball%2fcollection_9d5ff652-9f92-11ef-8ac7-63dae4ae2fa5.html%231&c=E,1,4xFautpQfEwJxWrvDVJqjwXWu7m6Kyo974oX99BAsidPCiv_jCdRr-RLOozL8u1yA5Fi1iqRDceD8-cx34ZTVOD3eZsXPlk-6rkYHfoJPT8,&typo=1
Dale Howard Classic
Friday and Saturday at Iowa Falls
MCC: 45| 40 – 85
ECC: 27| 46 – 73
ECC Scoring: Taevean Famutini-Brown 7 5-6 20; Tre Burris 5 5-6 15; Rollings Kamanda 6 1-2 13; Enki Diarra-Gentes 3 0-0 9; Jonovan Wilkinson 2 2-2 6; Rav Randhawa 1 0-0 2; Hubert Bayigamba 0 2-2 2; Quez Curry 0 2-2 2; Bene Martinkus 1 0-0 2; Themba Tshuma 1 0-0 2.
BC: 42| 35 – 77
ECC: 41| 42 – 83
ECC Scoring: Famutini-Brown 6 5-8 17; Martinkus 6 0-0 17; Burris 3 3-4 9; Diarra-Gentes 1 7-8 9; Wilkinson 1 6-6 8; Randhawa 2 4-5 8; Tshuma 2 3-3 7; Kamanda 3 0-2 6; Daniel Agu 1 0-2 2.