By Justin Ites, The Times-Citizen

Norfolk, NE – If a team puts 99 points on the board, that usually leads to a winning expectation.

That did not happen for the Ellsworth Community College Men during its regular season finale at Northeast Community College.

Behind a 55-point performance from Hawk Vincent Garrett, the hosts lit up the scoreboard for a 109-99 win over the Panthers that dropped the latter to the sixth-seed in the upcoming Region XI Tournament.

Garrett made 20-33 field goal attempts and was 12-14 from the foul line to go with 10 rebounds for the Hawks, who improved to 8-17 overall and 5-13 in league place. ECC wrapped up its regular season records of 19-11 and 9-9.

While Garrett was putting together an amazing offensive performance, the Panthers lost ground at the foul line. They made only 21-34 - a 61 percent clip. On the other side, NECC was 22-29 for 75 percent

For the game, the Hawks shot 55 percent compared to 49 percent for ECC.

NECC led the game 60-50 at the half, and both teams tallied 49 points apiece in the second 20 minutes.

Rollings Kamanda paced the Panthers with 21 points, while Taevean Famutimi-Brown added 20. The team also received double digit scoring nights from Enki Diarra-Gentes (18 pts) and Tre Burris (17 pts).

If the Panthers want to win back-to-back Region XI tournament titles, the run must start on Saturday. ECC travels to third-seed Iowa Western (18-11, 10-8) for a 3 p.m. tip in Council Bluffs. The winner of the game plays either two-seed Kirkwood (26-3, 15-3) or seventh-seed NIACC (17-12, 8-10) at the location of the higher seed on Wednesday, March 5. 

The Region XI Championship will be decided on Saturday, March 8, at the higher seed's site. DMACC (28-2, 17-1) is the top seed in the bracket.

For more Times-Citizen coverage of Ellsworth athletics: https://www.timescitizen.com/sports/ecc/