By Jeff Brown
Sports editor
FORTVILLE — With 9.4 seconds left in the game, Shelbyville coach
Tom Beach called timeout to tell Patrick Ellis what everyone else in
the Mount Vernon Gymnasium already knew. The game was in his hands.
With
the game tied at 48, four Golden Bear shooters spread the floor,
leaving Ellis at the top of the key to either drive and shoot or drive
and kick to a shooter.
Ellis never hesitated in driving to the
basket past two New Palestine defenders and banked in a layup with just
under five seconds to go to give Shelbyville a 50-48 sectional
quarterfinal victory Tuesday.
The Golden Bears (10-8) move on to
the second semifinal game Friday at Mount Vernon to face Rushville
(12-6). The first semifinal features Hamilton Heights (12-7) against
third-ranked Mount Vernon (19-2).
Shelbyville led New Palestine (11-10) for a total of 33 seconds Tuesday in the form of a 2-0 lead and the final score.
“It’s
tournament time, and you just have to be ahead when the buzzer goes
off,” Beach said. “That’s all that matters in tournament time.
“For
two quarters and 7-1/2 minutes it looked like we were in trouble. But
these guys don’t quit. They have a lot of heart and a lot of guts.”
Shelbyville
buried itself in a hole in the first quarter by missing 10 straight
shots after taking a 2-0 lead. New Palestine capitalized by grabbing a
13-4 lead at the first break.
After missing all seven 3-point
attempts in the first quarter, the Golden Bears made a more concerted
effort to get to the basket in the second quarter .
A Nick
Huntsman 3-pointer with 44 seconds left gave the Dragons a 23-16 lead,
but Shelbyville answered with a pair of free throws by John Hartnett
and a rebound and score just before the halftime buzzer by John Krise.
Shelbyville shot 29 percent in the first half and was 2-of-12 from the 3-point line but only trailed 23-20.
The
Golden Bears’ cold shooting continued into the third quarter, and the
Dragons went on a 14-1 run to take a 37-23 lead with 90 seconds left in
the quarter.
“You have to keep going and keep shooting,” Beach
said. “We took a lot of good shots. I didn’t have a problem with any of
our shots.”
The comeback began with John Krise hitting a
3-pointer with 1:07 to go in the third quarter, and John Hartnett
followed that with another three with five seconds to go to cut the
lead to eight at the start of the fourth quarter.
Krise hit another 3-pointer early in the fourth quarter, and the entire Golden Bears offense came to life.
A
6-0 run started with Ellis spinning into the lane and scoring. Ben
Kramer followed with a 3-pointer, and Krise hit a free throw to get the
lead down to three midway through the fourth quarter.
Pat Feeney drove and scored for New Palestine to slow Shelbyville.
But
Krise hit his third 3-pointer of the game, and Ellis grabbed a long
rebound off a New Palestine miss and raced to the other end for the
game-tying score.
Shelbyville had the ball at the 2-minute mark
and spread the floor, looking for an easy score. But Kramer coughed up
the ball, and Taylor Rainey hit a long 3-pointer for New Palestine to
steal the momentum.
But the Golden Bears reversed the court with three quick passes that ended with Kramer draining a three from the corner.
“That
was huge,” Beach said. “I can go back to December, and Ben wouldn’t
have finished that off because he would have let that turnover bother
him. He understood that that play was over and came back and made the
next play.”
Kramer’s 3-pointer tied the game with 1:05 left in regulation.
New
Palestine called timeout with 47 seconds left to set up a play, only to
turn the ball over on the inbounds pass when Ellis deflected it.
Shelbyville ran down the clock and called its own timeout with 9.4 seconds to go.
“It
was Patrick’s decision,” Beach said. “The game was tied, so whatever
decision he made was going to be right. If he could get to the rim and
finish it, that was his first choice.”
Ellis finished with 10
points and four assists. Krise led Shelbyville with 12 points and seven
rebounds. Hartnett and Kramer each had eight.
Shelbyville played
without starting forward Zach Baird (ankle injury) and reserve guard
Dylan Alvis (ankle injury). Beach is unsure if either will be available
Friday.
Rainey led New Palestine with 12 points. Trevor Baker finished with 11.
*Taken from The Shelbyville News
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