By John RittenhouseThe Ellsworth boys’ basketball team snapped a four-game losing skid by topping Sioux Valley-Round Lake-Brewster by 23 points in Ellsworth Monday.The streak reached four games with a 17-point home loss to Dawson-Boyd Thursday.Ellsworth, 2-4 overall, plays in the Mitchell, S.D., Tournament Friday and Saturday.Ellsworth 82,SV-RL-B 59The Panthers turned in a dominating performance while downing the Raiders by 23 points in Ellsworth Monday.Ellsworth outscored SV-RL-B in every quarter to post their first win since the season opener against Lakeview Dec. 4."We got down to business Monday," said Panther coach Ken Kvaale. "I was really pleased with the way we played as a team. We made an effort to get out and run with the ball, and it worked out well for us."With Todd Alberty scoring 20 of his team-high 23 points and Lee Farrell 13 of his 15 points in the first half, Ellsworth sported 21-11 and 42-26 leads at the first two quarter breaks.Adam Sieff netted nine of his 15 points when the Panthers expanded their lead to 20 points (60-40) in the third quarter, and EHS outscored the Raiders 22-19 in the fourth quarter to win by 23.Tom Janssen, who scored 19 points for the winners, tied Farrell for the team lead with six assists. Sieff added five assists to the cause. Alberty and Farrell pulled down nine and seven rebounds respectively.Box scoreJanssen 4 3 2-3 19, Co.Schilling 2 0 0-1 4, Sieff 6 1 0-0 15, Alberty 9 1 2-3 23, Herman 2 0 0-0 4, Tresbesch 1 0 0-0 2, Gacke 0 0 0-0 0, Klaassen 0 0 0-0 0, Farrell 6 1 0-2 15.Team statisticsEllsworth: 55 percent field goals (totals were not available), four of nine free throws (44 percent), 29 rebounds, six turnovers.D-B 67, Ellsworth 50Ellsworth’s losing streak reached four games when it dropped a 17-point home decision to the Blackjacks Thursday.Dawson-Boyd opened a 12-point lead in the first quarter and never lost control of the game against a cold-shooting EHS squad, which made 38 percent of its field goals in the contest.Ellsworth sported 3-0 and 5-2 leads early in the game before D-B put together a 21-4 run that gave them a 23-9 lead with less than one minute remaining in the first quarter.Ellsworth’s Farrell drained a field goal with less than 30 seconds left in the first quarter to make it a 23-11 game at the break, and Janssen scored the first two points in the second quarter to bring the Panthers within 10 points (23-13) of D-B.The Blackjacks, however, scored the next seven points to open a 30-13 cushion before settling for a 14-point (39-25) halftime advantage.Ellsworth pulled to within 12 points (48-36) of D-B when Brian Gacke connected for a field goal with three seconds left in the third quarter, and Gacke scored again at the 7:01 mark of the fourth quarter to make it a 10-point difference (48-38).The Panthers, however, were unable to get any closer to D-B in the final seven minutes as the Blackjacks outscored them 19-12 the rest of the way to win by 17.Sieff led the Panthers with 12 points. Farrell scored 11 points, grabbed seven rebounds and passed for four assists. Gacke nabbed 11 rebounds.Box scoreJanssen 4 0 0-0 8, Co.Schilling 1 0 0-3 2, Sieff 4 0 4-6 12, Alberty 2 0 4-7 8, Bittner 0 0 0-0 0, Herman 0 0 1-2 1, Gacke 4 0 0-0 8, Klaassen 0 0 0-0 0, Farrell 3 0 5-7 11.Team statisticsEllsworth: 18 of 47 field goals (38 percent), 14 of 25 free throws (56 percent), 31 rebounds, 15 turnovers.
