NIACC men edge Ellsworth, 74-71
IOWA FALLS - The NIACC men's basketball team completed the regular season sweep of Ellsworth Wednesday with a 74-71 victory over its long-time ICCAC rival.
NIACC, which topped the Panthers 61-58 in Mason City on March 3, now has won six straight games over Ellsworth, which is the longest for the Trojans in the all-time series.
The previous longest win streak over for NIACC over Ellsworth was four straight in the 1983-84 (3 wins) and 1984-85 (1 win) seasons.
The last Ellsworth win in the series came with a pair of wins in the 2017-18 seasons.
In Wednesday's win, sophomore guard McKelary Robertson scored eight straight points for the Trojans in the final three minutes to lift them to the 3-point victory. Robertson broke a 65-65 tie with a bucket with 2:45 left in the contest.
Robertson scored again to give NIACC a 69-65 advantage at the 2:05 mark, but Ellsworth trimmed the deficit to 69-68 with a conventional 3-point play. Robertson pushed the NIACC lead back to three points (71-68) with a basket with 37 seconds remaining in the contest.
Robertson gave NIACC a five-point lead (73-68) with 16 seconds left.
Jordan Jones connected on 1 of 2 free throws with seven seconds left to give NIACC a 74-68 lead. Ellsworth hit a 3-point goal as time expired to trim the final margin to three points.
Robertson led the Trojans with 23 points, four rebounds, two assists and two steals. NIACC's Bradley Andrews and Jeffrey Skogen both scored 13 points.
NIACC's Jordan Jones scored 10 points and Devon'dre Mayfield grabbed 11 rebounds.
NIACC (6-15 overall, 6-15 in the ICCAC) wraps up its regular season at home on Saturday against Southwestern. Game time is slated for 3 p.m. in the NIACC gym.
