By John RittenhouseThe Ellsworth boys’ basketball team owns a five-game winning streak after recording a pair of victories since Saturday.The Panthers topped R-T-R by 22 points in Ellsworth Saturday before nailing down a 30-point win in Minneota Tuesday.Ellsworth, 16-6 overall, plays road games against Lincoln HI Friday and Flandreau (S.D.) Indian School Saturday.Ellsworth 82,Minneota 52EHS senior Curt Schilling passed his second milestone during as many outings when the Panthers rolled to a 30-point win in Minneota Tuesday.Four days after scoring his 2,000th point, Schilling needed five assists to reach 500 for his career and he accomplished it by recording seven against the Vikings.Schilling also scored 21 points and collected 10 rebounds in a game Ellsworth controlled from beginning to end.The Panthers raced to a 29-13 lead in the first quarter and led by 18 points (43-25) at the intermission. Ellsworth extended the difference to 23 points (66-43) in the third quarter before outscoring the Vikings 16-9 in the fourth quarter to prevail by 30."We got it going early," admitted EHS coach Ken Kvaale. "Four of our five starters scored at least six points in the first quarter."Todd Alberty, Adam Sieff and Lee Farrell netted 19, 15 and 10 points respectively for EHS. Sieff charted six assists.Box scoreCr.Schilling 6 1 6-8 21, Janssen 0 2 2-4 8, Co.Schilling 1 0 0-0 2, Sieff 2 3 2-2 15, Alberty 4 1 8-10 19, Herman 3 0 0-0 6, Farrell 5 0 0-1 10, Klaassen 0 0 1-2 1.Team statisticsEllsworth: 54 percent field goals (no totals were available), 19 of 27 free throws (70 percent), 28 rebounds, 14 turnovers.Ellsworth 78, R-T-R 56Schilling surpassed the 2,000-point barrier for his career and the Panthers prevailed by 22 points when Ellsworth entertained Russell-Tyler-Ruthton Saturday in Ellsworth.Schilling, who needed five points to reach the 2,000-point plateau heading into the game, got it with a three-point shot with 38.6 seconds left in the first quarter.Schilling went on to score 28 points, grab 13 rebounds and pass for eight assists during Ellsworth’s second win over the state-ranked Knights this season.With Schilling’s milestone out of the way, EHS went on to post its fourth consecutive victory over the Knights.Alberty, who netted 25 points and collected 12 rebounds for the winners, scored 17 first-half points to help the Panthers take 18-11 and 38-29 leads at the first two quarter breaks.Ellsworth led by 10 (54-44) heading into the fourth quarter, when it outscored R-T-R 24-12 to walk away with a 22-point victory."We’re playing with a lot of poise and pretty good balance right now," said Panther coach Kvaale. "We seem to be pushing the ball a lot better than we have been. We’re trying to get the ball out and run with it more, and it’s working pretty well for us."Sieff scored 15 points and passed for seven assists for EHS.Box scoreCr.Schilling 4 1 17-19 28, Janssen 0 0 1-2 1, Co.Schilling 0 0 4-6 4, Sieff 6 0 3-6 15, Alberty 6 2 7-11 25, Klaassen 0 0 0-2 0, Farrell 1 1 0-0 5.Team statisticsEllsworth: 51 percent field goals (no totals were available), 32 of 46 free throws (70 percent), 40 rebounds, 12 turnovers.
