Clutch free throw shooting leads Golden Bears to road win at Jennings County

NORTH VERNON – Another dominant third quarter led Class 3A, No. 6 Shelbyville to a 68-59 win Monday at Jennings County.

Tied after each of the first two quarters, Shelbyville’s ability to hit three-pointers (six in the opening half Monday) pulled the Panthers out of their zone defense. That allowed the Golden Bears to go to work in the low post and it paid dividends quickly.

Shelbyville’s first six points of the third quarter came at the rim to open a 32-28 lead. After the two teams, who have not met on the court since 2013, traded 3s, Gavin Reed scored off an offensive rebound, Camden Thoman hit a layin on a fast-break opportunity and Brody Runnebohm sank a 3 just ahead of the buzzer to get the Golden Bears at 42-25 lead.

Jennings County cut the lead to five points twice in the fourth quarter, but the Golden Bears made 18 of 22 free throw attempts in the quarter (20 of 27 in the game) to keep the Panthers at bay.

“I was really proud of our free throw shooting down the stretch. When we got to that fourth quarter and they started chipping away I told the guys they were in control of this ball game,” said Hartnett, whose last visit to Charles Hurley Gymnasium was when he played for the Golden Bears more than a decade-and-a-half ago. “We didn’t need anything rushed. We didn’t need a forced layup. We didn’t need a forced 3. We were in control and they were going to have to start fouling. We just needed to take care of the ball and make free throws … and we did just that.”

Caden Claxton hit five 3s and scored a game-high 19 points. Runnebohm and Mar Nicholson each had 14 and Reed finished with 10.

Nicholson also had seven rebounds and four assists and finished 10 of 11 from the free-throw line.

Jennings County (8-7) shot 67% from the field in the second quarter as the Golden Bears struggled with the motion and physicality of the Panthers.

“That was one of the offenses with the most movement I’ve seen all year because they were constantly doing some sort of action,” said Hartnett. “Those actions were hard to guard. They were setting pin downs. They were setting flares. They were setting cross screens. And it was all happening at once and we struggled with it in the first half.

“In the second half, we started getting a little more physical with them and bumping cutters and chesting them up a little bit. We stopped sitting back and letting things happen.”

Jennings County shot 54% from the field but only took five free throws in the loss.

Jerry Davis scored 10 of his team-high 16 points in the fourth quarter. Omar Gonzalez had 12 points off the bench. Johnny Elkins finished with nine points and eight rebounds.

Jennings County won the junior varsity game, 63-55. Cooper Thoman led the Golden Bears with 17 points. Bram Kolkmeier and Jasper Hahn each scored 11.

The Golden Bears return to Garrett Gymnasium Thursday to face Franklin (9-8) in a game postponed back in December.

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