Spartans fall in back-and-forth battle
Feb. 27—With 30 seconds left against Ellsworth Community College Saturday, Creston graduate and Southwestern sophomore Brance Braker drilled a deep three to tie the game. The Panthers responded with a three and ultimately took the 74-71 victory.
The home game celebrated the teams' sophomores Baker, Khayden Hooks, Isaiah Peasley and Devin Tomlinson.
"I've been blessed to coach those four guys," head coach Reggie Kindle said. "They've been with me since I got the job here. It sucks to lose those guys after this year. I wanted this so bad for them tonight but God had different plans."
The Spartans (9-19) and Panthers (21-8) met earlier in the year during Kindle's suspension. Southwestern fell 79-56 in that game.
"Our team was a different team there — I wasn't there," Kindle said. "We were just a different team."
In Saturday's game, SWCC trailed Ellsworth for most of the first half, finding their first lead 10 minutes into the game with a layup from Justin Bussey.
The Panthers pulled away to end the half 36-29, one of their biggest leads of the day.
Both teams scored on 14 shots from the field, including three 3-point shots. The scoring difference came from free throws.
While the Spartans made 4-6 free throws, the Panthers made 11-13. Kindle said the difference wasn't a point of emphasis going into the second half.
"It never comes down to that," he said. "It comes down to our players executing and doing what we ask. We didn't do it down the stretch."
A nine-point streak for SWCC including shots from Patrick Worrell, Bussey and Tomlinson tied the game at 38 points apiece five minutes into the back half, but only a few minutes later, the Panthers were back up by six.
SWCC's Drake Davison went on a scoring run, finding five shots in four minutes after having only two points in the first half. "Drake's a really good offensive player. We know he can help us score," Kindle said. "We struggle with him defensively, but tonight he did some really good things defensively. Credit to him."
There were multiple lead changes in the last five minutes; Southwestern's biggest lead being 66-62 with three minutes remaining.
"We executed the game plan for the most part for about 39 minutes," Kindle said. "The last couple minutes we had some brain farts and it cost us the game."
Leading the Spartans was Tomlinson with 24 and Davison with 19. The Panthers were lead by Shawn Fulcher with 22 points.
Southwestern was 26-55 from the field including seven 3-pointers. They were 12-17 on free throws.
Ellsworth was 23-38 from the field including seven 3-pointers. They were 21-25 on free throws.
The Spartans return to action Wednesday at home against the DMACC Bears.
