The Ellsworth Community College men’s basketball team has earned the #3-seed in the NJCAA Division II national tournament. The Panthers found out their tournament draw during Tuesday’s selection show.
As the #3-seed, the Panthers have earned a first round bye, and will take on either Monroe Community College or County College of Morris in a second round game on Tuesday, March 19.
Head Coach Bryan Bender says it’s a major achievement for the program.
“Danville is a place that we haven’t been in 38 years,” Bender says. “And we’re just excited that we have the opportunity. We’re grateful for this community, we’re grateful for this college, our administration, our athletic department as a whole has supported me and my staff and my team in this community of Iowa Falls. So we’re just excited to compete at the national level. We’ve kind of made Ellsworth a household name since I’ve gotten the job two years ago. And just really excited to have this opportunity, grateful for the opportunity.and hopefully we can represent our college and our town the best way possible.”
Bender says his team carries momentum into the national tournament after winning the Region 11 Tournament as the #4-seed.
“When your best player doesn’t play, we won without him, but we were still learning how to do that. Arguably I still think we’re the best team in our conference, whether we finish first, second, third or fourth, however you look at it, we have the most talented roster, maybe in this region or in the country. And I say that respectfully with other teams, but yeah, we were able to come together. Sometimes teams, it takes a little bit longer than others. We had six losses on the season, had no bad losses, had no slip ups, five of our losses were on the road in tough environments and we were banged up all season long, but we’re finally getting healthy. We’ve won nine of 10 and excited to go compete.”
The Panthers are 27-6. The game will tip off at 3:00 p.m. in Danville, Illinois.
