There was no early Christmas present for the Golden Bears boys basketball team over the weekend.  A Friday – Saturday that featured two Hoosier Heritage Conference contests on the road ended with a pair of losses, 81-50 at Mt. Vernon on Friday and a 51-44 overtime decision at Yorktown Saturday.

In Saturday’s back-and-forth conference tilt, Shelbyville turned a six point halftime deficit, 19-13, into a brief third quarter lead.  But the Golden Bears were again down six entering the fourth quarter, 31-25.

A fourth quarter rally by SHS put the Bears up by three, 39-36.  But Shelbyville’s lack of rebounding cost the Bears in the closing minute.  Outrebounded 27-15 for the game, Shelbyville was unable to secure a defensive rebound and gave up four three-point attempts on the same trip up the floor.  The fourth attempt by backup guard Jason Williams from the left corner tied the game at 39.

In the extra session, Yorktown (3-2, 2-1 HHC) outscored Shelbyville 12-5 powered by 7-of-8 free throws.

A.J. Dunn led Yorktown with 19 points.  Starting Tigers’ point guard Jacob Grim added 13.

Shelbyville’s Ollie Sandman led all scorers with 22 points including five three-pointers.

Friday’s trip to Fortville started quickly for the heavily favored Marauders.  Mt. Vernon (4-1, 2-0 HHC) jumped out to a 35-7 first quarter lead powered by the highlight reel dunks of 6’4” IUPUI-bound senior forward Amhad Jarrard.  Jarrard threw down three first quarter dunks including a windmill in transition that brought the Marauder fans to their feet.

Jarrard finished with eight points, all on dunks.

Jarrard’s brother, 6’3” Armon, led the nine Marauders in the scoring columns with 13.  That included an alley-oop second half dunk off a feed from his brother. 

Armon is also going to play college basketball at IUPUI.

Ollie Sandman was the only Golden Bear in double figures for the second consecutive game. Sandman scored 24 on 7-of-11 from the field and 4-of-8 from behind the 3-pt arc.

Shelbyville (1-7, 0-3 HHC) has lost seven in a row.  The Golden Bears will host Franklin on December 29.