BATESVILLE – Shelbyville senior Ollie Sandman reached a milestone and broke a basketball program record Thursday in a 55-49 loss at Batesville.
Sandman (main photo) scored a team-high 16 points and made four three-pointers to surpass Zach Kuhn’s program record for career made 3s. And Sandman needed just 10 points to become the 10th Golden Bear to score 1,000 career points.
“Ollie has made tremendous growth. He is a great kid and you can’t take anything away from him,” said Shelbyville head coach John Hartnett Jr. “He has worked his butt off to get to this point. Becoming the tenth Golden Bear to get to 1,000 points and breaking Zach Kuhn’s 190 made 3-point record is a big accomplishment. He has worked for it. He has spent a countless amount of hours and he has put up so many shots in the summer, in the fall and in the spring to make this happen in the wintertime when its basketball season.”
Sandman can extend the 3s record and attempt to climb the career scoring leaderboard at Shelbyville Tuesday when the Golden Bears open the postseason against East Central at the Columbus North Sectional.
Shelbyville put together a strong first-half performance Thursday sparked by the return of freshman point guard Caden Claxton (photo above), who missed three games with a hand injury. Claxton wasted little time splashing a 3 midway through the first quarter that jumpstarted the Golden Bears, who were trailing 9-2.
Sandman followed with his first 3 and a 7-0 run gave the Golden Bears the lead, 12-11. The DePauw commit’s second 3 came at the 5:22 mark of the second quarter and tied Kuhn’s record. He added the record-breaking 3 with 1:53 left in the half which helped Shelbyville secure a 25-22 lead at the break.
Batesville (16-6) outscored the Golden Bears 14-5 in the third quarter and Shelbyville never recovered.
“We came out flat and they came out and scored right away,” said Hartnett. “We can’t have spurts where we have the lead and then come out in the third quarter and give up easy buckets or give up a big bucket. Every bucket they scored in the third was huge. And then they shot a bunch of free throws in the fourth quarter.
“We have to find guys that are wanting to get stops when it is time to get stops. It seems like when we take the lead we find ways to give it back to teams and we have to stop doing that.”
Sandman’s 1,000th-career point came with 7:03 left in the fourth quarter on a free throw that cut the Bulldogs’ lead to 38-31.
Sandman added a traditional 3-point play and Claxton hit one of his five made 3s that cut the deficit to 40-37.
Shelbyville would get no closer than that the rest of the contest.
Cade Kaiser sank 7 of 8 free-throw attempts inside the final two minutes to salt away the victory.
Jack Grunkemeyer led Batesville with 16 points. Kaiser and Sam Johnson each had 11 while Cole Pride finished with 10.
The Bulldogs shot 51% from the field to push its win streak to seven going into the postseason.
Claxton finished with 15 points and Aidan Asher had 11 points and five rebounds.
Shelbyville’s junior varsity finished 13-9 with a 57-39 victory at Batesville. Cole Schene led the Golden Bears with 13 points. Gavin Reed finished with 11 and Kohen Myers and Brody Runnebohm each had nine.
Notes: Sandman is 10th in career scoring (1,006 points) at Shelbyville trailing Kuhn (1,887), Harry Larrabee (1,370), Tim Ash (1,246), Wes Miller (1,244), Gary Elkins (1,149), Mark Drake (1,143), Rick Moorhead (1,038), Tony Martin (1,028) and Brian Asher (1,024) … Class 4A, Sectional 14 at Columbus North begins Tuesday with Shelbyville (9-13) and East Central (7-15) followed by the host Bull Dogs (14-8) and Franklin (10-13). Whiteland (9-14) awaits the winner of Shelbyville’s quarterfinal contest and Columbus East (2-19) will get the winner of the CN/FR game.
Steve Bush photos
Batesville 55, Shelbyville 49
SH – Sandman 5-11 4-9 16, Badgley 1-3 0-0 3, Brinkman 0-2 0-0 0, Parker 1-5 0-0 2, Lambert 1-2 0-0 2, Claxton 5-10 0-0 15, Asher 4-6 2-2 11. Totals: 17-40 4-6 49.
BV – Prickel 1-3 2-2 5, Kaiser 1-2 9-10 11, Pride 4-10 1-1 10, Johnson 4-7 1-2 11, Grunkemeyer 7-9 2-7 16, Laker 1-3 0-2 2, Drake 0-0 0-0 0, Maple 0-1 0-0 0. Totals: 18-35 15-24 55.
SCORE BY QUARTERS
SH (9-13) 14 11 5 19 -- 49
BV (16-6) 14 8 14 19 -- 55
Three-point field goals: SH 11-28 (Sandman 4-9, Badgley 1-3, Brinkman 0-2, Parker 0-2, Claxton 5-10, Asher 1-2), BV 4-11 (Prickel 1-2, Pride 1-4, Johnson 2-3, Laker 0-1, Maple 0-1). Rebounds: SH 21 (Sandman 4, Badgley 1, Brinkman 3, Parker 1, Lambert 3, Claxton 4, Asher 5), BV 16 (Kaiser 7, Pride 2, Johnson 2, Grunkemeyer 4, Laker 1). Assists: SH 10 (Sandman 1, Badgley 3, Brinkman 1, Parker 1, Claxton 4), BV 9 (Prickel 2, Kaiser 1, Pride 2, Johnson 1, Grunkemeyer 1, Laker 2). Steals: BV 3 (Prickel 1, Johnson 1, Laker 1). Blocks: BV 1 (Pride 1). Total fouls: SH 20, BV 12. Fouled out: Asher (SH). Turnovers: SH 16, BV 6.
JV
Shelbyville 57, Batesville 39
SH – Schene 13, Reed 11, Myers 9, Runnebohm 9, Reinhart 6, Owens 5, West 4.
BV – Luers 8, Kuria 6, Laker 5, Drake 5, Maple 4, Lewis 3, Raver 3, Heiser 2.
SCORE BY QUARTERS
SH 15 18 11 13 -- 57
BV 7 14 10 8 -- 39
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