The never give up Golden Eagles once again lived up to that description, battling from a double-digit deficient late in the game before settling for a 53-51 overtime loss to No. 2 Coffee County in the District 6-AAAA tournament championship on Saturday night at the Rick Insell Gymnasium.
Shelbyville Central cashed in on six huge 3-pointers in the fourth quarter, including the game-tying trey by Tyler Trice with under 10 seconds left to play.
The four-minute overtime period was for the most part uneventful as only six points was scored, but the four by the Red Raiders secured them the district title.
Shelbyville Central has an opportunity to tie the game or win it with a 3-pointer in the closing seconds of overtime but was unable to get off a shot.
“I just want to give a lot of credit to my guys. Yesterday, we watched some film from a prior team I used to coach and they were down 18 points with less than five minutes left to play and they came back to win the game. After watching that, the message was no matter what the scoreboard says, just keep grinding and we did that for sure,” Shelbyville Central coach Kody Howard said.
“We were in a time out down 10 points late in the game and I told them we are going to come back and win this game. These guys did everything they could and they did put us in a position to win this game. I would not want to be with any other group of kids than the guys I’ve got.”
It was a very close battle for three and a half quarters with Coffee County posting leads of 18-16 at the end of the first frame, 22-20 at the intermission and 32-29 going into the fourth quarter where the Red Raiders spread the floor about mid-way through the period and scored a few uncontested baskets off some defensive breakdowns.
The Shelbyville Central’s lone-range bombers went to work as Devyn Heath and Joe Harris connected on a pair of treys, with Zay Reese joining Trice with one.
Conner Shemwell led the Red Raiders with 11 points followed by Aiden Abellena with 10.
Ragland finished with 13 points while Reese collected a dozen to lead the Eagles.
Shelbyville Central and Coffee County with host region opening-round games on Saturday night with opponents and start times to be determined.
 
Coffee County                 18   4   10   17   4 — 53
Shelbyville Central           16   4     9   20   2 — 51

Coffee County: Dayne Carter 17, Brady Nugent 4, Aiden Abellena 10, Phineas Rollmen 6, Conner Shemwell 11, Johlin Osborne 1, Cooper Reed 2, John Dobson 2.
Shelbyville Central: Jayshon Jones 4, Zay Reese 12, Devyn Heath 7, Joe Harris 6, Jason Ragland 13, Kyler Trice 9.
3-Point goals: Shelbyville Central (7): Reese 2, Heath 2, Harris 2, Trice; Coffee County (4): Carter 3, Shemwell.
Halftime score: Coffee County 22, Shelbyville Central 20.