Strong finish propels Greenwood to sectional semifinal win over Class 3A, No. 7 Shelbyville

GREENWOOD – Shelbyville was six minutes from earning its first sectional championship game appearance in seven years.

A Caden Claxton three-pointer put Class 3A, No. 7 Shelbyville up 44-40 early in the fourth quarter Friday at Greenwood. A 9-0 run by the Woodmen flipped the script and the Golden Bears never recovered.

A 20-9 run over that fateful stretch delivered Greenwood a 60-53 win over Shelbyville and a berth in the Sectional 28 championship game.

The loss extended Shelbyville’s sectional championship drought to 25 seasons and closed out a stellar run by a senior class that won 37 games over the last two seasons.

“This is definitely a tough one to swallow,” said Shelbyville head coach John Hartnett. “With what we’ve built here and what we had coming into this game, we felt very confident. Down to the wire you have to be the tougher team, and we made some critical mistakes toward the end and gave up some easy buckets and came out on the losing side.”

An early 10-0 run by Greenwood (15-10) stunned Shelbyville early. Following a timeout, Gavin Reed hit a pair of corner 3s and chopped the Woodmen lead to 17-15 after one quarter.

“We weren’t really expecting them to press. Once we weathered the storm and did what we needed to do, we chipped back,” said Hartnett. “Their press really bothered us in the beginning. We knew their length and size would give us some trouble.”

Shelbyville had five first quarter turnovers.

Shelbyville's Mar Nicholson snares a rebound in between Greenwood's Owen King (on hip) and Ronin Tharp (3).

Both teams traded 6-0 runs to start the second quarter. Mar Nicholson drove the lane and scored in the final seconds to give Shelbyville a 29-28 lead at halftime.

The Golden Bears won a low-scoring third quarter, 9-8, and maintained a 38-36 lead with one quarter to go.

A pair of 3s from Claxton in the fourth quarter pushed Shelbyville to a 44-40 lead.

Acen Swain, who had 22 points in Greenwood’s 9-point loss at Shelbyville on Dec. 16, took over the game. The senior guard scored nine consecutive points from the lane, the free throw line and behind the arc to get the Woodmen going.

Shelbyville's Caden Claxton is fouled by Greenwood's Owen King during the first half Friday in the Sectional 28 semifinal round game at Greenwood.

A Claxton 3 with 1:10 to go cut the Greenwood lead to 55-53 but that was as close as the Golden Bears got. Gerome Davila and Braden Reynolds hit three free throws in the final minute and Benjamin Hommell punctuated the win with a breakaway dunk.

Greenwood hit 9 of 10 shots in the fourth quarter and made 5 of 6 free throws to seal the win.

“This one will take me awhile to gather myself and go back and watch it because of how much this group meant to me and how much this group meant to the community and the program,” said Hartnett. “They brought Shelbyville’s name back to being a good basketball team. We graduate seven seniors that will truly be missed. They will be tough to replace next year.”

Swain and Parker Doolin each led Greenwood with 15 points. Hommell finished with 11 points and Reynolds had 10 points, 11 rebounds, two assists and two steals.

Reed sank five 3s and led the Golden Bears (19-6) with 15 points and three rebounds. Claxton finished with 14 points and six rebounds. Nicholson added 12 points and six rebounds.

Claxton closed out his career with 1,318 points – third best all-time at Shelbyville and 12^th all-time in Shelby County.

Nicholson finished at 1,095 career points – eighth all-time in Shelbyville history.

Steve Bush photos

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