Class 3A, No. 6 Shelbyville's final HHC game ends in disappointing loss

MUNCIE – Class 3A, No. 6 Shelbyville fell short of a preseason goal Friday with a disappointing 55-51 loss at Delta.

The Golden Bears’ six game win streak ended in their final Hoosier Heritage Conference contest before joining the Hoosier Legends Conference next season. The loss left Shelbyville (17-5, 4-3 HHC) tied for third place in the standings with New Palestine (11-11, 4-3), and behind HHC champion Mt. Vernon (20-3, 6-0) and Pendleton Heights (17-4, 5-2).

On Friday, Shelbyville raced out to a 9-0 lead in the opening four minutes then surrendered 15 straight points to the Eagles, who were playing their third game in four nights.

“Something we wanted to do was win our last game before leaving the HHC and we came out flat tonight,” said Shelbyville head coach John Hartnett. “We got up 9-0 and thought things were going to get rolling and they go on a 15-0 run. We took a punch in the mouth and we kind of laid down a little bit.”

Shelbyville missed its first 15 three-pointers and trailed 34-24 after three quarters. That lead grew to 12 early in the fourth quarter but the Golden Bears kept hanging around.

When they went on that run, we started to play scared,” said Hartnett of the 15-0 run that closed out the opening quarter and carried into the second. “The reason we are successful in those situations, and we saw it in (the comeback) at New Palestine last week, is we play carefree and we are getting the ball down the floor. We are not over thinking things.

“That’s what we did early tonight. We were over thinking passes. We were over thinking post touches. We were over thinking 3s and I know we didn’t shoot very well, things like that hurt.”

Mar Nicholson (photo) finally hit a 3 with 4:48 to go and added another one 45 seconds later to get Shelbyville within eight at 42-34.

Shelbyville hurt its comeback chances early in the fourth quarter racking up five quick fouls which put Delta at the free throw line 20 times in the quarter.

Camden Thoman hit a wing 3 that cut the deficit to four and Gavin Reed added another 3 with 60 seconds to go to cut Delta’s lead to 51-48.

Shelbyville got a quick turnover but missed two more opportunities to tie the game and the Eagles hit 4 of 6 free throws in the final 18 seconds to seal the win.

Ryan Lynch hit just one field goal but sank 12 of 13 free throws, including his final 10, to lead Delta (13-9, 2-5) with 14 points. Madden Ramsey finished with 11 points and three rebounds. Chase Phillips had 10 points, four rebounds and three assists.

Nicholson scored 11 of his team-high 19 points to lead Shelbyville. Caden Claxton and Gavin Reed also scored in double digits with 11 and 10, respectively.

Shelbyville shot 37% in the loss and finished 6 of 28 (21%) from the 3-point arc.

Delta also hit six 3s and sank 21 of 29 free throws.

Delta won the junior varsity game, 51-41. Austin Martzall led the Golden Bears (7-11) with 12 points.

Shelbyville’s final two games of the regular season are at home at Garrett Gymnasium. The Golden Bears host Seymour (10-9) Tuesday and Batesville (18-3) Thursday.

Steve Bush photos

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