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Twelve Southwestern players scored as the Spartans coasted to an 81-61 home win over Ellsworth Saturday in ICCAC play.
Odd as it sounds, the Spartans seemed off at times and had their share of lapses even in a 20-point win.
“What we end up doing is trying to penetrate to spots where I really don’t think there’s a ton of room to operate," Southwestern coach Todd Lorensen said. "So I can’t really complain with where we are, but I think we could be more efficient with some of our decision-making.”
Southwestern had a 12-point lead at 27-15 in the first half before the Panthers scored eight straight, which included two fallaway 3-pointers with the shot clock about to expire.
"Defensively in the first half I thought we were off the charts," Lorensen said.
That most of what Ellsworth scored in the first half came off of second-chance opportunities and several bad three-point shots did not bother him.
Jordan Johnson and Lavon Hightower both played aggressively after the 8-0 Panthers run and led a run to end the half.
Hightower's energy continues to be infectious. He scored 11 points Saturday.
"He plays hard every single day like that," Lorensen said. "He’s one of the guys that we encourage to attack the offensive glass.”
The Spartans opened the second half by scoring the first eight points and traded some buckets before Hightower brought the Southwestern bench to its feet with a thunderous slam that made the Southwestern lead 51-32. He dunked the ball again to put away any doubt of a Southwestern win.
The last minutes of the ball game weren't exceptional by the Spartans' own standards, but KeShawn Wilson did scorch the nylon with four second-half treys on his way to a team-high 15 points.
When the Spartans were moving without the ball, they found success.
“We have a lot of guys who are capable of shooting it and putting it on the floor which makes us tough to guard," Lorensen said. " ...Where we hurt ourselves at times is when we’re stagnant."
UP NEXT — Southwestern (25-1, 5-1) plays at DMACC (15-12, 4-5) Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. The Spartans defeated the Bears at home Jan. 25 84-65.
“They’re playing as good as they have all year," Lorensen said.
The Bears lost 83-63 at Kirkwood Saturday but had won their last three games.
Ells — Totals — Scoring — Keeon Johnson 14, Darius Lasley 11, Tavares McGlaun 10, LaVeechie Williams 8, Mike Evans 7, Arrington 5, Octavius O'Large 5, Amel Kuljuhovic 2.
SWCC — Totals — 29 13-19 81. Scoring — KeShawn Wilson 5 1-2 15, Lavon Hightower 4 3-4 11, Calvin Chambers 3 3-4 9, Brodric Thomas 4 0-1 9, Khalid Edwards 3 0-0 8, Jordan Johnson 2 2-2 6, Alijah Thomas 2 2-2 6, Jamil Maddred 2 0-0 5, Nate Lee 1 2-2 5, Kevin Shields 1 0-0 3, Bennie Curtis 1 0-0 2, Antonio Williams 1 0-2 2. FG Shooting — 29-57 (50.8 percent). 3-pt. goals — 10 (Wilson 4, Edwards 2). Rebounds — 30 (Hightower 8, Wilson 3, Curtis 3). Assists — 20 (Johnson 4, Chambers 4, Edwards 3). Steals — 15 (Chambers 4, Edwardds 3, B. Thomas 2). Fouls — 15. Fouled out — none.
ELL (61) — 25 36
SWCC (81) — 34 47