By John RittenhouseThe Ellsworth boys’ basketball team won 27 games this season largely because of an explosive offense.Unfortunately for the Panthers, the well ran dry when they most needed to draw a drink during Saturday’s championship game of the Minnesota State Class A Basketball Tournament against Rushford-Peterson at the Target Center in Minneapolis.Ellsworth made 53 percent of its field goals while outscoring its opponents by an average of 21 points each game during the regular season.But the Panthers simply went cold offensively during the championship clash against the Trojans. The end result of the offensive blackout was a 55-52 loss to R-P, ending Ellsworth’s 27-5 season that yielded the school its second second-place finish at the state tournament in the last four years.The Panthers struggled on offense in the first half, making four of 19 field goals (21 percent) on the way to falling behind 29-15 when the first 18 minutes were complete. EHS fared better in the second half, shooting at a 44-percent clip (14 of 32) from the floor. The improved offensive efficiency in the second half enabled the Panthers to draw within three points of the Trojans twice in the final 15 seconds of the game.Ellsworth, however, couldn’t completely overcome the deficit it faced after an inconsistent offensive experience in the first half."They were playing a 2-3 zone, and they were double-teaming Cody (Schilling, a sophomore starter)," said EHS coach Markus Okeson. "If we would have shot the ball like we did in any of our previous games, we would have been all right. We were stagnant on offense today. We held the ball a lot and didn’t attack their zone."When opponents played zone defense against the Panthers in the regular season, the decision usually proved to be a bad choice.Schilling, one of three EHS players to make the All-Tournament Team, has the ability to dissect a zone with his tenacious drives to the basket. When the openings to the hoop were closed, Schilling had the option to pass the ball to outside shooting threats Aaron Van Der Stoep and Bryan Kramer, who have the knack of shooting teams out of their zones from beyond the three-point line.Things didn’t work out that way on Saturday.Schilling, who improved his scoring output during each state tournament outing, canned 13 of 21 shots while scoring a game-high 34 points. The balance of the team shot a combined five of 30 (17 percent) from the field, opening the door for unranked R-P to win its first state basketball title as a consolidated school district.Van Der Stoep, who made the All-Tournament Team along with Kramer and Schilling, got off to a good start when he nailed a three-point shot to open the scoring 1:13 into the game.The 3-0 lead, however, would be the lone advantage EHS would sport in the title tilt.R-P, which made 50 percent of its field goals in the first half, controlled play the rest of the half. Trojan guard Tyler Drinkall, the tournament’s most valuable player, scored nine of his team-high 22 points in the first half and 6-6 senior post Adam Norton added eight of his 10 points in the first 18 minutes to lead R-P to a 29-15 halftime advantage.The Panthers would have benefited from a strong start to the second half, but it didn’t happen.EHS did trim the difference to nine points (34-25) when Schilling cashed in on a pair of free throws with 12:52 left to play. The Trojans countered with a 9-2 surge capped by two free throws from Norton with 9:02 remaining to give R-P its biggest lead of the game at 43-27.It was gut-check time for EHS at that point, and the Panthers met the challenge by outscoring the Trojans 25-12 the rest of the game to make things interesting late in the contest.EHS trimmed the difference to four points twice (50-46 at 1:35, and 52-48 with 56 seconds remaining) before Schilling drained a field goal with 13.6 seconds left to make it a 53-50 game.R-P’s Jeremy Olson settled the issue by converting a pair of free throws with 12.3 seconds left to extend the Trojans’ lead to five points at 55-50. Schilling capped his 34-point effort with a field goal with 2.9 seconds remaining to end the scoring."We switched things up by picking them up with full-court pressure and we were able to create some offense with our defense by coming up with a turnover or two in the second half. The difference came down to us being stagnant on offense for too much of the time," Okeson said.Although the first-year EHS coach was disappointed with the way things played out in the championship game, Okeson said it wouldn’t taint what has been a remarkable year for himself and the Panthers."Finishing second at the state tournament is not too bad. We had a heck of a season. We won’t let this one loss dictate what we think about this season overall."Box scoreDeBerg 2 0 3-4 7, Kramer 0 1 0-0 3, Schilling 12 1 7-10 34, Van Der Stoep 0 2 0-0 6, Herman 0 0 2-4 2, Klaassen 0 0 0-0 0.Team statisticsEllsworth: 18 of 51 field goals (35 percent), 12 of 18 free throws (67 percent), 31 rebounds, six turnovers.R-P: 18 of 42 field goals (43 percent), 13 of 23 free throws (57 percent), 39 rebounds, 11 turnovers.