Ellsworth boys hoops lose another close contest to Durand

• Ellsworth's Josh Fuchs

Josh Fuchs strides towards the basket guarded closely by a Durand player in Thursday's contest at Durand.

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DURAND - The rim was unkind to Brady Schroeder.

Ellsworth's 5-10 sophomore guard had a perfect route to the basket with time in the Ellsworth-Durand boys' basketball contest Thursday ticking down to zero. Schroeder sliced through the Durand defense along the outside of the lane on his way to a lay-up that would have tied the score.

But the ball rolled in and out of the cylinder and Durand escaped with a 44-42 win to sweep the season series, with both wins by a combined margin of four points.

Durand's senior 5-11 guard Jake Weber, who finished with a game-high 18 points.

Ellsworth had more balanced scoring led by Riley O'Neil's 10 points, eight points each for Jimmy Miska and Chris Niedfeldt and six points for Josh Fuchs. But the free-throw count went badly against the Panthers. Durand wasn't very solid at the charity stripe, going 10-for-19 but Ellsworth was an even worse 1-for-6.

Tags: boys basketball, local news, sports, prep, ellsworth, pierce, county