Nicholson stars again as Shelbyville stays unbeaten with 67-64 win over Whiteland

Mar was magnificent once again.

Mar Nicholson scored 31 points and pulled down nine rebounds Saturday to lead Shelbyville to a 67-64 win over Whiteland at William L. Garrett Gymnasium.

The win ended the Golden Bears’ six-game losing streak to the Warriors and pushed the program to 5-0 this season – its best start in 19 years.

After scoring 32 points and collecting eight rebounds in Friday’s win at New Castle, Nicholson nearly matched that performance, shooting an identical 13 of 17 from the field, and added a three-quarter court 3-pointer just ahead of the halftime buzzer to give Shelbyville a 34-28 lead.

“I would really hesitate to think about it, but I don’t think so,” said Shelbyville head coach John Hartnett Jr. when asked if he could remember better back-to-back performances from a Golden Bear. “Mar has been tremendous these last two nights. His inside presence and rebounding skills are hard to match. That’s why we like when we go up against teams like Whiteland because it forces them to play tough. They are a very physical team and I think Mar plays better against bigger, stronger, more physical teams because he has to work harder.”

After a 9-for-12 shooting performance in the second quarter, Shelbyville cooled off in the third, hitting just 4 of 13 shots and trailing 44-42 inside the final minute.

Nicholson fixed that with a drive and score with 39 seconds left that sent the game to the final quarter tied.

The Golden Bears quickly got the lead in the fourth quarter with a Caden Claxton 3-pointer and never trailed again.

University of Indianapolis commit Ethan Edwards did all he could to keep Whiteland within reach. He scored 11 of his 26 points in the final eight minutes but all six Golden Bears that took the floor scored in the fourth quarter to hold off the Warriors (2-3).

Claxton finished with 14 points, six rebounds and three assists. Gavin Reed came off the bench Saturday to score 10 points, grab five rebounds and hand out three assists.

“This is a team effort all the way around,” said Hartnett. “I told the guys this is a collaborative effort, every single one of you guys.”

Edwards also had four rebounds, two assists and a steal to go with his team-high 26 points.

“Edwards is a tremendous player who really elevates when he shoots the ball,” said Hartnett. “His pull-up jumper is really quick and he has unlimited range. He can shoot from anywhere on the floor. I thought for the most part tonight we did an excellent job on him, but he is a tough task to stop along with (Gavin) Stubbe.”

Stubbe finished 20 points, including nine in the fourth quarter.

Whiteland raced out to a 20-8 lead after one quarter in the junior varsity game and rolled to a 53-36 victory.

Luke Coomes led Shelbyville (2-3) with 12 points. Cooper Thoman had 10 and Gavin Hall finished with seven.

The Golden Bears have three games on the schedule this week, beginning Tuesday at Greenwood (3-3).

Shelbyville closes out its 2024 portion of the schedule with Hoosier Heritage Conference home games Friday against Mt. Vernon (4-1, 1-0 HHC) and Purdue commit Luke Ertel, and Saturday against Yorktown (3-2, 0-1 HHC).

The Shelby County Post is a digital newspaper producing news, sports, obituaries and more without a pay wall or subscription needed.