By John RittenhouseThe Ellsworth boys battled their away into the semifinals of the South Section 3A Basketball Tournament by posting a pair of wins at different sites late last week.The Panthers coasted to a 27-point win over Westbrook-Walnut Grove in the tournament’s opening round in Fulda Thursday. Ellsworth advanced to the semifinals by stunning second-seeded Fulda by 10 points during Saturday’s quarterfinals in Worthington.Ellsworth, 16-12 overall, will play Adrian in tonight’s semifinals in Worthington. The EHS-AHS clash will be the second semifinal game of the night and is slated to start at 7:30 p.m.Ellsworth 69, Fulda 59The Panthers pulled off the biggest upset of the tournament’s first two rounds by shocking the Raiders by 10 points Saturday in Worthington.Seventh-seeded EHS cashed in on 22 of 29 free throws in the game to help knock off No. 2 Fulda in what developed into a really physical battle."They were the favorites, but our guys were confident," said Panther coach Ken Kvaale."We played really good defense, and our guys played one of their better physical games of the year. We stayed in our half-court offense, and we were able to stay in our sets even though it was a very physical game."After falling behind early, the Panthers came from behind to gain a 14-10 lead at the end of the first quarter.With Darrin Weikamp nailing five of six field goals and scoring 10 of his 24 points in the second quarter to lead the way, Ellsworth opened a 10-point (32-22) by halftime.Fulda trimmed the difference to seven points (45-38) by the end of the third period and trailed by as little as three points (49-46) in the fourth quarter. Ellsworth, however, finished the game with a 10-3 spurt to advance to the tournament’s semifinal round for the fourth straight year.Cody Schilling, who drained eight of nine free throws and scored 12 points in the crucial fourth quarter, finished the game with 27 counters, eight rebounds, six assists and four steals. Weikamp added eight rebounds to the winning effort.Box scoreDeutsch 0 0 2-4 2, Kramer 1 0 2-2 4, DeBerg 1 0 0-2 2, Schilling 7 1 10-11 27, Weikamp 7 1 7-8 24, Klaassen 2 0 0-0 4, Van Der Stoep 1 0 1-2 3, Herman 0 1 0-0 3.Team statisticsEllsworth: 22 of 38 field goals (58 percent), 22 of 29 free throws (76 percent), 30 rebounds, 10 turnovers.Ellsworth 79, W-WG 52The one-two punch of Wiekamp and Schilling carried the Panthers to a 27-point win during Thursday’s tournament opener in Fulda.Weikamp and Schilling combined efforts to score 44 points and pull down 17 rebounds during a convincing win over the 10th-seeded Chargers.With Schilling and Weikamp leading the way, seventh-seeded EHS iced the contest by opening a 50-17 lead in the first half.Weikamp netted 18 of his team-high 23 points in the first two quarters. Schilling scored 16 of his 21 points in the first half.W-WG scored the first two points of the game before Ellsworth took over. The Panthers reeled off seven straight points to highlight a 15-2 run that ended with Schilling turning an offensive rebound into a field goal at the 3:13 mark of the first quarter that gave EHS a 15-4 lead.The Chargers trimmed the difference to 10 points (20-10) by the end of the opening period, but Ellsworth settled the issue by outscoring W-WG 30-7 in the second period to lead by 33 points at the intermission. The Panthers converted 13 of 14 field goals in the second stanza.Ellsworth led by as many as 45 points in the third quarter, which ended with the Panthers sporting a 70-32 advantage. W-WG outscored EHS 20-9 in the final eight minutes of play to make it a 27-point difference at game’s end.Schilling led the winners with 10 assists, nine rebounds and four steals. Weikamp added eight rebounds to the cause.Box scoreDeutsch 0 0 0-0 0, Kramer 3 0 0-0 6, DeBerg 1 0 0-0 2, Schilling 9 0 3-5 21, Weikamp 8 1 4-5 23, Klaassen 1 0 0-0 2, Van Der Stoep 2 1 2-3 9, Nolte 1 0 0-0 2, Herman 2 10-0 7, Bittner 0 0 0-1 0, Kix 2 0 1-1 5, Jansma 0 0 0-0 0.Team statisticsEllsworth: 32 of 50 field goals (64 percent), 12 of 19 free throws (63 percent), 34 rebounds, 12 turnovers.