WORTHINGTON -- With 56 points between Ellsworth's Cody Schilling and Trevor Gruis, the Panthers ran away from Murray County Central, 78-47, Tuesday night in the Sub-Section 3A South boys' basketball tournament.
Schilling scored 34 points, dished out 12 assists and had 11 rebounds to complete a triple-double, while Gruis scored 22 points and pulled down 10 rebounds for his double-double.
"They said that getting a good post touch usually helps create on offense," Gruis said. "I started out slow, but I got going the rest of the game."
Entering the game, MCC (15-12) was hoping to let Gruis have his touches in the post, but limit the rest of Ellsworth's (26-2) shooters.
"That was kind of our plan, to let him get the ball and not double down so he could pass it out," MCC head coach Tim Bobeldyk said. "When I've watched him, he's struggled some in the post, but he proved us wrong tonight. That was kind of our game plan to see what he could do, but limit everyone else."
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While Gruis had his touches early, it was Schilling that picked up the offense to start the game.
The senior scored 10 of Ellsworth's first 13 points -- with a trey coming from Adam Van Der Stoep (14 points) -- as the Panthers had an early 12-8 advantage.
Kyle DeLong (seven points) hit a jump shot to pull the Rebels within two, and after a Gruis shot, Paul Counter (16 points, four assists) nailed a trey to cut the lead to a single point, 14-13.
"They played well right away," Ellsworth head coach Markus Okeson said. "They dictated the tempo, and they ran good offense in the first couple of minutes."
However, Gruis hit a shot and Schilling nailed a trey to start a 21-1 run, capped by a pair of treys from Van Der Stoep and a shot from Gruis.
"We made what they wanted to do tough, and we were able to get stops and rebounds and push the basketball," Okeson said of the run.
Counter hit a pair of shots and Spencer Grimmius (eight points) finished a drive, but Ellsworth had a 37-20 lead at the break.
"We started off terribly slow," Gruis said. "We locked down on defense, and that usually starts our run, and then we take it from there on offense."
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Counter started the second half with a shot and Brian Everson connected on a trey as MCC cut the lead to 12 points in the early going.
However, that would be as close as the Rebels would get in the final half.
"We said play two minutes at a time and win each two minutes," Bobeldyk said. "In the first two minutes, we won by four, and we got four points back."
With the score 44-31 in favor of the Panthers, Ellsworth went on a 12-3 run to push the lead to 56-34.
As Ellsworth pushed the lead to 22 points, 58-36, Gruis used fancy post moves to start a 13-5 run -- giving Ellsworth a 69-41 advantage.
"Coach told me to give them the up and under because they are going to be jumping," Gruis said. "So I tried it, and it worked."
Cole Hegstad (11 rebounds) connected on two of his four points for MCC, but Ellsworth went on to a 78-47 victory.
"I think we played great defense tonight," Okeson said. "It was kind of like the other day when we played great defense, it resulted in runs on the offensive end."
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Ellsworth advances to face Southwest Christian at 8 p.m. Saturday at Southwest Minnesota State University in Marshall.
MCC 20 27 -- 47
Ellsworth 37 41 -- 78
MCC (3FG-2FG-FT-TP) Counter 1-6-1-16, Hegstad 0-2-0-4, Grimmius 0-4-0-8, DeLong 0-3-1-7, Everson 1-0-0-3, Veenhuis 2-1-1-9. Totals 4-16-3-47.
Ellsworth (3FG-2FG-FT-TP) Van Der Stoep 4-1-0-14, Schilling 3-10-5-34, T. Gruis 0-10-2-22, DeBerg 0-1-0-2, Hinrichs 0-3-0-6. Totals 7-25-7-78.
