BB: Abner Is Shelbyville’s Little Big Man On The Boards

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.