By Marissa VanWingen, The Times Citizen
With a difference of as many as 12, Marshalltown Community College mounted a comeback and had the ninth-ranked Ellsworth Community College on the ropes. In the final five minutes, the hosts went on a run to hold on for the 88-78 win.
"Winning is hard," said Panther coach Bryan Bender. "I was really proud of our guys to be resilient, we've shown a lot of resilience with this group and finding ways to win most games. We found a way to win. We did a lot of controllable things, that was one of our better starts. We've been struggling to start games well. We didn't start the second half well, but we were able to start that first half a little bit better."
MCC (6-3) already has a big win on its ledger, upsetting previously sixth-ranked DMACC in Boone a week prior. The Tigers came out hungry and looking for another top 10 win.
ECC (8-1) came out strong the first 20 minutes and never trailed. After getting the three-ball and the foul, MCC cut the deficit to two (19-17) before the Panthers scored six unanswered.
The Tigers bounced back again and cut the difference to two but back-to-back buckets by Themba Tshuma and a steal and dunk from Rollings Kamanda pushed ECC to a 33-25 advantage. The difference would reach double digits with a Tre Burris bucket (40-30) and be eight at the half.
The slow start came in the second 20 minutes as MCC slowly cut into the difference. After a long ball by Hubert Bayigamba the Panthers went stale and the visitors went on a 13-4 run to even the score at 50-50. Justice Small's basket gave the Tigers their first lead of the game at 52-54. The two would trade leads three more times before an Enki Diarra-Gentes make made it 65-63 ECC. The Panthers would create a little bit of separation but a pesky MCC squad would not go away quietly.
The visitors got within one (70-69) before Tanner Berggren drained a long ball and forced a Marshalltown timeout. Rav Randhawa and Berggren combined for six of the squads nine triples, including four in the final minutes to pull away.
Several different players stepped up for ECC, showing the depth of their squad. Five different players were in double figures. Randhawa led with 19 points. Burris had a double-double (and nearly a triple-double) with 13 points, 10 rebounds and eight assists. Berggren (12), Jonovan Wilkinson (10) and Diarra-Gentes (10) were also in double figures.
For more photos from the game, visit: https://linkprotect.cudasvc.com/url?a=https%3a%2f%2fwww.timescitizen.com%2fgallery%2f11-26-24-ecc-vs-marshalltown-mbb%2fcollection_af788f6c-ac75-11ef-b061-0f64798bde1f.html&c=E,1,ZGr4zAwXZQK3MhZqH6ynM0ouxreUc87Tee7h8Xt0YHtCadJV4BBmk-s1oNZDxAON96M6MrUfMIWNLGkZuUjymeS7jNi0aKsuXnJnzTsMCOclhKdphuM,&typo=1
NJCAA Basketball
Tuesday at Iowa Falls
MCC: 35| 43 – 78
ECC: 43| 45 – 88
ECC Scoring: Rav Randhawa 6 4-4 19; Tre Burris 5 2-5 13; Tanner Berggren 4 1-4 12; Enki Diarra-Gentes 2 1-2 10; Jonovan Wilkinson 4 2-3 10; Rollings Kamanda 3 1-2 7; Eesher Singh Sarai 2 0-0 4; Taevean Famutimi-Brown 2 0-0 4; Themba Tshuma 2 0-0 4; Hubert Bayigamba 1 0-0 3; Jack Scrivner 0 2-2 2.