Class 3A, No. 6 Shelbyville rallies late before suffering first loss at 4A No. 7 Mt. Vernon

FORTVILLE – Time will tell what a road loss at Class 4A, No. 7 Mt. Vernon will do for the Golden Bears.

Trailing by 16 points at halftime, Class 3A, No. 6 Shelbyville showed grit, slowed down one of the top players in the country, and had a look at the game-tying shot that was off the mark in a 60-57 loss.

Indiana Mr. Basketball candidate Luke Ertel scored a game-high 28 points, 18 in the first half when he sank four three-pointers, but the senior went 1-of-8 from the field in the second half and did most of his damage from the free-throw line where the Marauders enjoyed a big advantage.

Ertel hit 8 of 9 free throws in the second half and Mt. Vernon (6-1, 3-0 HHC) finished 18 of 21 to maintain its lead atop the Hoosier Heritage Conference standings.

“I am extremely proud of this group,” said Shelbyville head coach John Hartnett. “Down 16 at the half, it could have been easy to fold. At halftime I told them you had them in this same exact position last year at halftime. We had them down 17 points and they charged back and won the game – and we can do the exact same thing.”

Shelbyville (5-1, 1-1 HHC) played without starting guard Gavin Reed, who suffered a concussion in Tuesday’s win over Greenwood. That forced freshman Camden Thoman into the starting lineup with the challenge of squaring up at times defensively against the Purdue-bound Ertel (23.2 ppg, 10.8 rpg, 5.8 apg).

Gavin Hall also provided key help off the bench, scoring five points and grabbing a rebound.

“This one stings because we know we could have won the game,” said Hartnett. “In the first half, we got off to a bad start and were a little timid in a tough environment. … I thought in the second half once we calmed down a little bit we made some excellent strides. We had Gavin Hall hit a 3. Camden Thoman stepped up and played some amazing defense and had some key rebounds.”

The Golden Bears missed all six of their first-half 3s then turned deadly in the final two quarters, led by Cole Schene hitting four 3s.

Shelbyville ran a set for Schene to take an open 3 at the top of the key to begin the third quarter. He made it. Ninety seconds later, he hit another one.

“We came out for a set play for Cole to shoot a 3 at the top of the key because they weren’t guarding him,” explained Hartnett, and for a good reason. Schene was 1 of 2 in his career from beyond the arc before Friday. “We practice that with Cole getting shots up because we are going to need him to hit those shots. Without him hitting those shots it’s a different ball game.”

That inspired the Golden Bears, who hit five 3s in the quarter and 9 of 14 in the second half to get within one possession in the final 10 seconds.

Caden Claxton avoided Max Vise for a final 3-point attempt but slipped and was forced to throw the ball at the goal before time expired.

Schene led Shelbyville with 14 points. Brody Runnebohm finished with 13 and Claxton had 12 points, five assists and three rebounds.

Ertel added eight rebounds and three assists to his stat line. Vise finished with 15 points, nine rebounds, four assists and four steals.

Mt. Vernon won the junior varsity game, 39-34. Cayde Farmer led the Golden Bears (4-2) with 13 points.

Shelbyville is back in action Saturday at Yorktown (2-1, 1-1 HHC).

“We can’t fall off. We can’t let a tough loss go into tomorrow like we did last year,” said Hartnett. “We came out sluggish against Yorktown (after losing to Mt. Vernon) and we let them hang around. We charged back with a few big shots and won by two points (48-46). We have to take it out on Yorktown and stay in this conference run. Anything can happen. Mt. Vernon can get beat down the road. We have to keep beating the teams we can.”

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