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Shelbyville
center Michael Pearce (42) rises for a shot in front of Mount Vernon’s
D’Armond Davis during the first quarter of their Hoosier Heritage
Conference game Friday at Garrett Gymnasium in Shelbyville. Dayla Thurston photo |
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By Jeff Brown
Sports editor
Shelbyville’s win over Mount Vernon Friday was not one of biblical proportions.
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.
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