The Shelbyville Central Golden Eagles dropped a heartbreaker to the Spring Hill Raiders 46-43 on Thursday night as they continue to stay winless in District 9-AAAA.

The Eagles finally began to find some rhythm offensively immediately after the opening tip, even ending the first quarter with an 11-6 lead over the home side. 

However, Spring Hill, who would end the night without a single double-digit scorer, began to lock down defensively in the second quarter as they went into the halftime locker room with an 18-15 lead. Jack Whitworth, who led Spring Hill with nine points on three three-pointers, hit two of them in the second stanza. Ashton Hoffman finished with eight points, good for second on the team, including icing the game late, going 5/6 from the free throw line in the fourth quarter.

Shelbyville was led by Kyler Trice with a game-high 21 points, including 13 in the fourth quarter with three made threes, and Tae’ Shawn Shelton, who chipped in 14 points.

However, playing without starting guard Terrace Johnson, the Eagles would find it impossible to overtake the Raiders in the second half. At the end of the third quarter, the hosts held a narrow 31-28 lead. 

In the final frame, Trice would score 13 of Central’s 15 points, but in the end it was not enough as Ashton Hoffman would knock down all but one of his clutch free throws to send the visitors home with their fifth consecutive loss to start district play.

Spring Hill picks up only their second win of the year, improving to 2-14 (2-4) with a trip to Columbia on deck for Friday night.

Shelbyville Central drops their fifth consecutive district game to fall to 4-17 (0-5) on the season as they return home Friday to host Lincoln County, LIVE on WLIJ 98.7 and AM 1580 starting at 5:45 p.m.