ELMWOOD — Ellsworth got it done in their holiday tournament opener against Cadott on Friday night, piecing together a 74-60 win in Elmwood.

The Panthers got ahead 11-6 early with an emphatic one-handed slam from George Rohl, a lead they would double going into the half after Jack Stoltenberg hit a three in the waning seconds to take a 36-26 lead.

The Cadott offense ran through one man, but that man was on a mission. Braden Schneider scored all but five of Cadott’s first half points and added another 13 in the second for 34 points on the game.

The Hornets started the second with a brief run to cut the Panther lead to five, which Ellsworth built right back up to 10. From there, the lead remained fairly stagnant and Ellsworth got the job done.

It was a full team effort for the Panthers with top scorers being Omar Coulson with 17, Rohl with 16, Parker Peterson with 11 and Nash Kuhl and Gavin Klos posting seven each.

The pace of play was a positive sign for Head Coach Derek Staley.

“I like the pace we played at,” Staley said. “We want to play fast, but we want to play under control. I thought we did a little bit better job of that.”

It is the responsibility of the point guards to navigate this precise pace, and Coulson in particular stood out to Staley.

“He kind of controls our pace, whether it’s faster or slowing down,” Staley said.

Staley said if they want to have success in conference play, it is going to come down to their ability to take care of the basketball.

When Ellsworth had the offense set up in the half court, the team did a tremendous job keeping it there. Offensive rebounds were up for grabs and the Panthers snagged them. Ellsworth is a sizable squad, and when the guards are willing to crash the boards as well, it makes for a recipe fit for a cookbook.

“That’s going to be a strength of ours all year,” Staley said. “We have so much size and tenacity from our bigs, so that’s definitely a focus for us.”

The winter break schedules always wildly vary depending on the team, with some taking multiple weeks off and others, like Ellsworth, playing in holiday tournaments. Staley said despite the pair of weekend games, they got some rest in over Christmas and will have some more recovery time in the coming week.

“It’s a tough balance, so we gave them a pretty good break,” Staley said. “As a coach, you want to practice every day, but you need to give them time.”

Ellsworth now stands at 4-2 overall and 2-1 in Middle Border Conference play.