Eagles fall to 'Cats despite post players' efforts

Shelbyville Central's post players combined for 36 points but it wasn't enough as the Golden Eagles dropped a 60-57 decision to visiting Tullahoma on Tuesday night.

Bobby Wilson was a man amongst boys in the paint, scoring 23 points, including 7-of-10 free throws, while teammate Seth Jarrell had a double-double with 13 tallies to go along with 13 rebounds.

Point guard Isiah Washington added 10 for the Eagles.

Playing without suspended leading scorer Emmanuel Andrews, the Eagles battled from start to finish and had a great chance to tie the game at the end when a 3-pointer from the top of the key bounced off the front of the rim at the buzzer.

Shelbyville (13-10, 6-4 District 8-AAA) fell behind 6-0 early but rallied to only trail 13-11 at the end of the opening period.

Tullahoma (16-10, 5-5) took control of the game with an 9-0 run in the second stanza to go up 24-12 at the 5:10 mark but a pair of treys by Washington helped spark the Eagles to a 12-2 run to close out the half down 28-26.

Wilson pitched in nine points in the third quarter and Central used a 9-0 run midway through to go up 40-36 but the Wildcats closed out the quarter with six unanswered points to take a 42-40 lead.

The Eagles led by as much as four points in the fourth before Tullahoma took the lead for good with 3:10 left to play off a basket by Matt Passarello.

Shelbyville held a 32-24 edge on the glass.

Wilson, Jarrell, Washington and Reed played the entire game without coming out.

Berridge led the Wildcats with a dozen points. Allen Starks and Chad Rusk each added 11. Jared Davis contributed 10.

Shelbyville returns to action Friday night at Cookeville.