Riverdale snaps skid at Eagles' expense

MURFREESBORO -- Shelbyville Central closed out the regular season in disappointing fashion in a 56-41 loss at Riverdale on Tuesday night.

The Golden Eagle offense struggled to find any consistency throughout the game while the effort on defense could be questioned as well, especially in the second half.

"We're really struggling scoring from the perimeter and they just backed everybody up and guarded Seth (Jarrell) and Bobby (Wilson) and that's the way it's going to be from here on out," Shelbyville coach Kevin Thomas said. "We just didn't bring any effort at all when it comes to playing defense and rebounding."

The Eagles (14-11) trailed 12-11 at the end of the first quarter and 19-17 at halftime.

The third quarter was the most costly for Shelbyville as it was outscored 21-8 and didn't knock down a basket from the field in the last five minutes to fall behind 40-25 going into the fourth stanza.

Riverdale, which entered with a five-game losing streak, led 55-33 before the Eagles went on a 8-1 run at the end of the game.

"It wasn't as much as what they did, but what we didn't do in the second half," Thomas said. "We didn't make many shots, but most of all, we just didn't buckle down on defense in the second half."

Vari Craig pitched in a game-high 17 points for the Warriors (15-15).

Wilson netted 12 and Jarrell added 10 for the Eagles.

Shelbyville entertains Lincoln County in the opening round of the District 8-AAA tournament on Friday night at 7.

The Eagles advance with a win but a loss will end their season.

"If we play with the lack of effort we did in this game our season will be over after Friday night," Thomas said. "We can still make a run here but we've got to play much better Friday night than we did tonight."

Central won both regular-season contests by double figures.