Shelbyville Golden Bears | Archive | December, 2008

It was, however, a big win over a Goliath of an opponent.

Garrett
Abner scored a game-high 21 points, including the game-winning
3-pointer with 19 seconds left, to give the Golden Bears a 43-42 win
over the Marauders (2-2, 1-1 HHC).

“They’re an excellent
basketball team,” Shelbyville coach Harry Larrabee said. “This is a
huge win. We were very fortunate to come out with the victory.”

Especially
after a first quarter where Shelbyville made just 1-of-10 shots from
the field while trying to shoot over the Marauders’ extended zone
defense.

Of the seven players utilized by head coach Steve
Lynch, six were 6-foot-4 or taller. Shelbyville has only four kids on
the entire varsity and junior varsity rosters listed at 6-3 or bigger.

“Against
that zone, it’s impossible to prepare,” Larrabee said. “We’ve played
against some teams that had a little bit of size but not usually out on
top. We were seven to 10 feet behind the (3-point) line and we were
having a hard time moving the ball against that length.”

Abner’s
first 3-pointer of the game put Shelbyville ahead 5-2 early on. Abner’s
second 3 came midway through the second quarter and was the Golden
Bears’ next field goal.

A nearly 10-minute drought from the field nearly cost Shelbyville the game.

Mount
Vernon scored the final nine points of the first quarter to take an
11-5 lead. A 6-0 run following a Larry Brown 3-pointer made it 23-13.

But
Shelbyville (4-1, 1-0 HHC) answered with a Jordan Toon baseline jumper,
an offensive rebound and score by Abner and a 3-point play by Michael
Pearce to cut the lead to three by halftime.

The scoring run ran to 12 straight with a Brown 3-pointer and a jumper from Abner to start the second half.

A Kris Skipton 3 put Shelbyville ahead 28-25 midway through the quarter.

Mount
Vernon went back to its strength in the low post, scored six straight
points to regain the lead – one it would not relinquish until Abner’s
final 3-pointer.

Shelbyville trailed by four with two minutes to go.

Abner hit 1-of-2 free throws to make it 42-40 with 1:01 left.

A
Marauder turnover gave the ball back to the Golden Bears, who made the
visitors pay when Larry Brown found Abner for the winner.

“I’ve
been on Garrett, and he has really responded well,” Larrabee said.
“He’s becoming mentally tough. Tonight was real proof of his mental
toughness.

“He’s coming off a game where he played well at
Jennings County except shooting the ball. He comes back against a team
that has zeroed in on him for a week, and he’s playing well. He got a
little tired and he missed a few shots, but he kept his poise and
knocked down that shot at the end.”

Shelbyville didn’t shoot as
well as Mount Vernon, or rebound as well, but committed fewer turnovers
and outscored the Marauders by 27 points from the 3-point line and
free-throw line.

Daniel Turner led Mount Vernon with 15 points and 13 rebounds. P.J. Hubert finished with 12.

Mount Vernon won the junior varsity game 50-49. Clayton Sanders had 17 for the Marauders.

Drew Parsley led the Golden Bears (1-4) with 14 points, including a half-court 3-pointer at the final horn.

That’s
either a sad statement on the lack of height throughout the area’s five
programs or a tribute to Abner’s ferocity around the boards.

“He’s tenacious on the boards for his size,” Shelbyville boys’ basketball coach Harry Larrabee said.

Abner
has grabbed 23 rebounds for the undersized yet undefeated Golden Bears
(3-0) for a 7.7 average. That’s not his only impressive statistic.

The senior also leads the county in scoring (22.7 ppg) and steals (3.3 spg).

“I’m
a little bit surprised,” Abner admitted when asked about his fast
start. “My goal was to keep up my rebounds (from last year), step up
and defend better and then help out on the offensive end. My main goal
is to be a team leader.”

Abner is indeed leading the way for a
Shelbyville squad averaging 63.7 ppg in wins over Beech Grove (2-1),
Triton Central (3-1) and Columbus North (3-1).

“That doesn’t
surprise me, because of the way we played this summer,” Abner said of
the Golden Bears’ perfect start. “We knew we had to play at a faster
pace.”

Larrabee utilized all 12 players dressed to wear down Columbus North last weekend.

“When
you play like this, the average person doesn’t realize how much energy
it takes,” Larrabee said. “In 30 seconds, you can become pretty winded.
To sustain, you must have depth and guys willing to stay in the game
while on the bench.”

Team chemistry is not a problem with this group.

“That
is why we adopted this ‘selfless and fearless’ attitude,” Larrabee
said. “You have to think of the team first. You can’t be concerned with
who is getting the credit.”

Larry Brown deserves a little credit, though.

Brown played sparingly as a freshman and missed his entire sophomore season with a back injury.

Now healthy, Brown makes a formidable running partner with Abner.

“He
helps us out rebounding, he has worked hard on his shot and he can
drive the lane,” Abner said. “Larry is just an all-around big, strong
kid.”

Brown is averaging 13.3 points, three assists and three steals per game.

Next up for Shelbyville is a precarious road trip to Jennings County (0-4).

“We’ve
been down there a couple of times and been intimidated by their crowd,”
Larrabee said. “We know we’re going to get their best shot. The
atmosphere is always intense at Jennings County.”

Former
Southwestern coach Scott Holdsworth is in his first year as the
Panthers head coach. Holdsworth led an upstart group of Spartans to an
8-12 record in 2001 two years before they played in the Class A State
Finals.

Holdsworth spent the last seven seasons leading South Ripley to an 85-70 mark.

Around the county

The Shelby County Tournament draw is Friday morning. By the time Sunday rolls around, a clear-cut favorite should be visible.

Morristown
(0-3, 0-2 Mid-Hoosier Conference) hosts Waldron (1-2, 1-1 MHC) and
Southwestern (2-2, 0-0 MHC) gets a visit from Triton Central (3-1, 2-0
MHC) Friday.

A win by the Tigers would give them a clean sweep of their three county opponents.

Southwestern travels to Waldron Saturday.