Nicholson leads Golden Bears to road win at Batesville

BATESVILLE – Class 3A, No. 13 Shelbyville is a stronger team when Mar Nicholson is actively stuffing the stat sheet.

Nicholson set up Damon Badgley for a corner three-pointer and Gavin Reed for a close-range layin that gave the Golden Bears the lead for good Thursday at Batesville.

Trailing 50-49, that 5-0 run made it 54-50. Nicholson closed out the fourth quarter with three more rebounds to help Shelbyville seal a regular-season ending 63-59 victory over the Bulldogs.

Shelbyville improved to 18-6 – the program’s most wins since 2017 (18-7) – and now turns its attention to Sectional 28 next week at William L. Garrett Gymnasium.

Nicholson (photo, below) finished with 16 points, nine rebounds, four assists and two blocks and was one of three Golden Bears to score in double digits.

“That is just the guy Mar is. He is very unselfish. He is a very good team guy. He wants what is best for the team,” said Shelbyville head coach John Hartnett. “But there are times I have to pull him in and say you have to go. You have to look to score. … There are times where he has to get the ball and say get out of my way because I’m going. I thought he did a better job in the second half – and his rebounding was excellent in the second half.”

Caden Claxton had a team-high 18 points and five rebounds. Gavin Reed (photo) sank a trio of 3s in the second quarter and finished with 17 points and six rebounds.

“We had a conversation with Gavin this week about him being more aggressive,” said Hartnett. “Him being one of the best three-point shooters on the team, he has to contribute. He did just that tonight.”

A 7-0 run by Batesville in the opening quarter created a 12-7 lead and forced Hartnett to call timeout. The Golden Bears responded with an 8-0 run that produced a lead at the end of the first quarter.

Shelbyville hit 7 of 10 shots in the second quarter, including four 3s, and dominated the Bulldogs on the boards but turnovers allowed the hosts to stick around, 33-32 at halftime.

The Golden Bears opened the third quarter with a 6-0 run but Batesville answered with a 9-0 streak for a 41-39 lead that held through the end of the quarter.

Claxton quickly erased that lead with back-to-back 3s, the second coming from the volleyball line. But Kamryn Holcomb drained the first of three final quarter 3s to make it 50-49.

Shelbyville could have closed the game out quicker with a better performance from the free-throw line in the game’s final 64 seconds. The Golden Bears made 7 of 12 free throws in that span while Holcomb sank two more 3s that forced Shelbyville to twice inbound the ball without incident.

Holcomb finished with 15 points and was one of three Batesville players in double digits. James Hughes had 12 points – all in the first half.

Cade Kaiser, the 10^th player in Batesville history to eclipse 1,000 career points, finished with 22 points, five rebounds, three assists and three blocks.

Batesville ended the regular season 13-9 after starting 4-7.

Shelbyville controlled the junior varsity game from the start. Gavin Hall led the Golden Bears with eight points in the 39-23 victory.

Nick Fischer and Eli Davis each had six as the Golden Bears completed their schedule with a 7-13 record.

“We brought up a few freshmen this year with Austin Martzall, Jasper Hahn, Nolan Cord and Cayde Farmer and those guys are excellent basketball players mixed in with some of our older guys. We are really looking to build to see who will step up next when this junior class is done. We have to keep this thing going. We can’t have two good years and then fall back to a rebuild year.”

Shelbyville is the host site for Sectional 28 which begins Tuesday with one game – No. 4 New Palestine (21-3) taking on Rushville (5-18). The winner advances to Friday’s semifinal round against Beech Grove (8-15).

Shelbyville battles Indianapolis Roncalli (14-7) Wednesday at 6 p.m. In the second quarterfinal game, Greenwood (13-10) will face Indian Creek (10-10).

Wednesday’s winners will meet Friday in the other semifinal contest.

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