By DENNIS CHASE
Every so often a team, backed by a proud and supportive community, emerges to epitomize what March Madness is all about.
Ellsworth was that team, that community, this season.
Small school (73 students). Big hopes.
Ellsworth saw its terrific season -- and bid for the Breslin -- end Tuesday night when the Lancers ran out of time in a 75-70 loss to Muskegon West Michigan Christian in a Class D basketball quarterfinal at Traverse City Central.
Coaches like to say that sports builds character, molds work ethics. Any doubters should have been at Central because it was all on display.
West Michigan Christian, which could be the most talented team in Class D, seemingly had the game won two minutes into the third quarter when the Warriors went up by 24 points. The Lancers had no answers for West Michigan Christian's two stars -- guard London Burris and forward Evan Bruinsma. The only thing left to be decided, it appeared, was the margin of victory.
Then, as if a switch had been flipped, the game turned. Ellsworth went to a half-court trap, disrupting the Warriors' offensive flow. Burris and Bruinsma, who combined for 43 points, went scoreless after Burris nailed a 3-pointer midway through the third quarter that gave the Warriors a 62-43 lead.
Meanwhile, Ellsworth found its rhythm offensively. Tyler Ingalls started draining 3-pointers. Jared Danbert used his muscle and quickness to attack the basket. And the Warriors still had to keep close tabs on Jarod Steenwyk, whose torrid shooting carried the Lancers in the first half.
Suddenly, we had a game. How fast can a 24-point lead evaporate? We were about to find out.
Ellsworth sliced the deficit to 15 after three quarters, to eight with two minutes left, and then to two points with one minute to play.
In the end, though, the Lancers could not complete the comeback, though it certainly was not for lack of heart or effort.
"I knew we were down a lot. I didn't know it was 24," Steenwyk said moments afterwards. "We just wanted to keep playing. We didn't give up. We kept battling."
It was that attitude, that character trait, that became the storyline in the second half -- and it no doubt endeared that team to many who sat in the stands watching.
"You've got to be proud of Ellsworth," West Michigan Christian coach Jim Goorman said in his opening remarks.
Although the outcome may have been disappointing for the team and its fans, those in Ellsworth can find solace in the fact the Lancers played hard right to the end and did what many thought was unthinkable early in the third quarter.
And those fans? I don't think there's a county that gets behind its basketball teams like Antrim. Those fans can be rivals during the season, but once an Antrim County team starts to make a run in the post-season, they all seem to unite. And they were there in force Tuesday.
"When you look up into the stands and see a sea of black, wow," exclaimed Lancers coach Tex Drenth. "That's all I can say, wow."
Several fans were wearing black T-shirts with white lettering that read, 'We are Lancers.' The T-shirts -- 150 in all -- were a gift from the Edson family. It was Harold Edson who had the school's nickname changed from the Flying Dutchmen to the Lancers 60 years ago. Harold was a former star player and coach at Ellsworth.
Although he passed away in 2005, his legacy lives on. In 2005, the family started a scholarship fund for the school's top male and female student-athletes.
I'm sure Harold would have applauded Ellsworth's effort Tuesday. If you give everything you have, then there's no shame in defeat.
"It's exciting just being here," Steenwyk told me. "We wanted to go to the Breslin (Michigan State's Breslin Center for the state semifinals). But we won a district and a regional and that hasn't been done for awhile. We can walk out of here pretty happy. We put up a fight."
