Micah Davis spent the first half sizing up the Golden Bears. In the second half, he made his case to be an Indiana All-Star.

The Franklin senior scored eight points, grabbed two rebounds and handed out two assists in the first 16 minutes Wednesday at William L. Garrett Gymnasium. His Grizzly Cubs held just a 28-23 lead.

The Eastern Kentucky commit went into attack mode in the second half and led Franklin to a comfortable 60-41 victory. He finished with 26 points, eight rebounds, four assists and two steals.

“We knew coming into this game that Micah Davis was going to be a very tough assignment to take care of,” said Shelbyville head coach John Hartnett. “We even knew and told our guys that when he drives we can’t have just one of our guys trying to stop him. We needed two or three and he proved that tonight that he can take just about anybody one-on-one and he really lit up in the second half getting to the basket and hitting easy shots.”

Shelbyville dropped to 6-4 this season, suffered its first home loss, and now has two losses against potential Sectional 14 opponents, including the sectional favorite Franklin (9-1).

Shelbyville's Luke Brinkman (3) tries to get a shot off against Franklin's Grant Hunter Wednesday at Garrett Gymnasium.

The Golden Bears nearly got buried early by the Grizzly Cubs who sank a trio of 3s in the game’s opening two minutes for a quick 9-0 lead. Shelbyville recovered, though, and outscored Franklin 23-19 to halftime.

Davis went to his left-hand dribble drive to get to the rim in the third quarter and personally outscored the Golden Bears 8-5 and Franklin, who saw Shelbyville get as close as 28-26, led 43-28 going into the final quarter.

Davis added 10 more points in the fourth quarter, all from around the rim.

“He is a really good player. In the first half, he just kind of got a feel for the game,” said Hartnett. “In the second half, he just took over and made that game his.”

Wyatt Nickleson sank a 3 in each quarter and backed Davis with 15 points. Kolt Nelson finished with six points, five rebounds and three blocked shots.

Mar Nicholson (main photo) was the only Golden Bear to score in double figures. The sophomore finished with 13 points, nine rebounds and two assists.

Kohen Myers had seven points and four rebounds off the bench.

Shelbyville shot just 35% from the field in the loss and was 5 of 21 (24%) from beyond the arc.

Shelbyville's Ethan Lambert (40) shoots over the defense of Franklin's Kolt Nelson during the first half Wednesday at Garrett Gymnasium.

Shelbyville’s junior varsity also fell to 6-4 this season. Malakai Bravard scored 19 points to lead Franklin to a 43-37 overtime victory.

Brody Runnebohm had 11 points and Kenny Owens and Tyler Gwinnup each scored nine in the loss.

The Golden Bears close out the 2023 portion of the schedule Friday at Garrett Gymnasium against Martinsville (3-4). The former South Central Conference rivals have not met since 1999 when John Heaton was still head coach of the Golden Bears.

Steve Bush photos

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