Ellis reaches a profession excessive with 34 factors and leads TCC No. Three in opposition to St. Petersburg

El Ellis answered the call for his team in a tense situation.

No. 3 / No. 1 Region 8 Ann Arbor Community College was 37-36 behind Region 8 St. Petersburg College No. 10 during the break. The deficit continued at the beginning of the second half of the year.

Ellis kept calm the whole time. He continued to hit and drop shots from the droplet.

In the end, he went off the ground and reached a career high of 34 points. That statistic drove TCC to an 85:66 home win on Saturday afternoon in a clash of the top 10 programs in Region 8.

The Eagles improved their record to 4-0 with the win.

Ellis wears a larger than life target on his TCC No. 3 jersey.

He is the reigning Panhandle Conference Player of the Year. Last November, the Traverse City, North Carolina all-American officially signed to play in Louisville. According to 247 Sports, Ellis is also classified as the best JUCO guard.

Despite this notoriety and the strong defensive attention of the opposing teams, he continues to deliver for the Eagles.

“I have to do my team-mates the honor of believing in me. I know that every game has people approaching me. If I play solid and right, I’m fine,” said Ellis.

Despite being well known, Ellis has been relatively calm for the first three games.

He hit double digits against South Georgia Technical College and Andrew College. Between these trips was a 4-point performance against Hillsborough Community College.

However, his shots were spot on on the way over Titans. Ellis was 9 out of 13 from the ground and 4 out of 7 behind the arch. He also hit 12 of 13 on the foul line.

“It’s really nice when El Ellis can go downhill, get to the edge and create for others. He got in touch and went on to quit,” said Eagles head coach Zach Settembre.

“El is a guy that we know we can rely on. He’s unguarded when he does what he did today (Saturday). In the crisis we know we can rely on him. He’s a guy who wants to be good and listens to coaching. “”

TCC held out a nip-and-tuck duel before retiring in the second half. It went on a 19-11 run after the 13-minute mark.

Ellis was joined by Jeremiah Kendall at 13 and Mandela Baledrokadroka at 10.

Kendall is first with the Eagles with Etan Collins and scores a 13.3 point average. Baledrokadroka’s total score on Saturday was a career high for the second student from Auckland, New Zealand.

“I didn’t feel like this was the El Ellis show,” said Settembre. “We have a lot of other players. It wasn’t a situation where we stood around and watched El play. The ball kept moving.”

TCC has a rematch with South Georgia Technical College on Monday. This game takes place in the Eagledome. The delivery is planned for 7 p.m.

The Eagles begin their Panhandle Conference game on the street at 5 p.m. on Saturday against Gulf Coast State College

Follow TCC beatwriter Rory Sharrock on Twitter @ ried2game1.

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