ELLSWORTH -- In one of the area's most anticipated boys' basketball games of the year, the small-school Ellsworth Panthers built a 14-point lead in the first half and later broke open a one-point game with a 10-0 run in the second half to earn a 67-54 victory over the big-school Worthington Trojans in a Nobles County non-conference showdown Thursday night.
Six-foot-eight sophomore Trevor Gruis (15 rebounds, six assists) scored 15 of his team-high 24 points and had a trio of two-handed dunks in the second half, while 6-5 senior Cody Schilling charted a triple-double (23 points, 13 rebounds, 10 assists) to spark the Panthers (24-2).
"This is a solid win for us, as we played great defense and passed the ball very well," Ellsworth head coach Markus Okeson said afterwards. "We had the lead for most of the game, but it was never comfortable because the Trojans were right on our heels the whole night."
Worthington (15-8) scored the game's first four points on a three-point swisher by 6-2 junior Matt King (25 points) and a free throw from 5-10 junior Mike Vorwald (13 points, eight assists), but Ellsworth's Weston DeBerg (16 points, 13 in the first half) scored seven straight points to give the Panthers a 7-4 lead with 15:34 left in the first half.
After Vorwald came up with a steal and layup, Schilling and Worthington's Travis Meinders (seven points) each hit a trey from the top of the key to make it 10-9 Ellsworth with 13:55 remaining.
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Ellsworth then outscored the Trojans 15-2 over the next 6:17 to claim the game's largest lead (25-11) at the 7:38 mark.
Gruis scored three buckets in the paint during that stretch, while Schilling hit a fadeaway 10-footer in the lane before getting a steal and one-handed breakaway dunk.
Worthington chipped away and eventually trimmed the gap to eight (35-27) at halftime, as King hit a three-pointer and made three straight free throws, Joe Ahrens scored on the right block, and Vorwald, Meinders and Adou Omot each scored on nifty drives to trigger the Trojans.
Ellsworth, which owned a 37-20 advantage on the boards, opened the second half with a pair of dazzling alley-oop plays, as Adam Van Der Stoep and Schilling each connected with Gruis on a lob feed from the left side of the court for a two-handed slam on the right side of the rim -- keeping the Panthers ahead 39-30 at the 15:18 mark.
A four-point play by King with 15 minutes to go made it a five-point spread, and Vorwald later hit three straight shots from the perimeter (an 18-footer from the right wing and two three-pointers from out top) to slice the margin to three (45-42) with 12:42 to play.
A turnaround jumper on the right block by Gruis gave Ellsworth a 48-43 lead with 9:20 to go, but King scored the next four points on a pair of free throws and an 18-foot jumper to bring the Trojans within one (48-47) with 8:17 showing on the clock.
However, a putback basket by Gruis, followed by two straight buckets in the paint from Schilling lifted Ellsworth to a 54-47 lead.
Gruis then intercepted a pass and finished a breakaway with another two-handed dunk, and Schilling, who now has 3,222 career points and over 1,000 career assists, again scored inside to put Ellsworth up 58-47 with 4:08 to play.
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Worthington cut the lead to nine twice over the last four minutes, but Ellsworth went 9-for-10 from the free-throw line and held the Trojans to just seven points to help seal the 13-point victory.
"We had a tough night shooting the ball, and Ellsworth played good defense and rebounded well," Worthington head coach Ron Vorwald said. "It was a good game, but Gruis and Schilling took over in the second half, and once Ellsworth gets a double-digit lead like that, they are tough to come back against."
Ellsworth is the top seed in the Section 3A South tournament and plays eighth-seeded Hills-Beaver Creek Saturday at 1 p.m. in Worthington, while the Trojans (No. 5 seed in Section 2AAA) visit fourth-seeded Mankato East Tuesday at 8 p.m.
Worthington 27 27 -- 54
Ellsworth 35 32 -- 67
WHS (3PT-2PT-FT-TP): Vorwald 2-3-1-13, Meinders 1-1-2-7, Omot 0-2-1-5, Knutson 0-0-2-2, King 3-4-8-25, Ahrens 0-1-0-2. Totals: 6-11-14-54.
EHS (3PT-2PT-FT-TP): Nolte 0-1-2-4, DeBerg 0-6-4-16, Schilling 1-7-6-23, T. Gruis 0-10-4-24. Totals: 1-24-16-67.
