Garrett Eldridge of CHS Basketball(Photo by Jay Bailey – Manchester Times)
A questionable basket by Shelbyville to close out the 3rd period proved to be the deciding margin of victory for the visiting Eagles as Shelbyville downed Coffee County 52 to 51 in high school basketball action on Monday night at the Joe Frank Patch Memorial Gym. Roger Pryor floated a shot through the net after the horn sounded to end the 3rd quarter that the officials counted as a good basket to give Shelbyville a 10 point lead entering the final 8 minutes. The Red Raiders stormed back to take a 46 to 45 lead with 2:45 left before a late turnover and a pair of missed shots saw their rally come up just short at the buzzer. Garrett Eldridge came off the bench to score 14 points to lead the Raiders in scoring as he captured the Gateway Tire and Service Center Player of the Game award. Kohl Young added 13 points and Wyatt Day netted 12 points for the Raiders.
Aerial Williams(Photo by Jay Bailey – Manchester Times)
The Lady Raiders saw Shelbyville force 16 turnovers in the first half as they exploded out to a 42 to 10 halftime lead on their way to a 74 to 34 defeat of Coffee County. The Lady Raiders cleaned up the execution in the 2nd half, but had no answer for the inside/outside offensive attack of the Eaglettes. Holli Smithson and Aerial Williams each tallied 8 points to lead Coffee County in scoring and Jacey Vaughn added 6 points. For her tenacious play in the paint, Aerial Williams was named the Gateway Tire and Service Center Player of the Game.
Coffee County returns to district action on Tuesday when they travel to Lawrenceburg to take on Lawrence County. Thunder Radio will be on hand to bring you all the action as we begin our broadcast with the Powers Storage Pregame Show at 5:50.
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