By Mark Requet
The South Shelby Cardinals hosted the Putnam County Midgets on Thursday, February 15, 2024, for the final regular season home game of the year and won 62-50.
Chance Rainey scored four of the first six points to give the Cardinals an early 6-2 lead with 5:19 left in the first quarter.
Putnam County closed to within 8-5 later in the quarter, but Pryce Eagan connected for a three, followed by four straight points by Noah Wilt. The Cardinals led 15-7 after one quarter.
South Shelby continued to pull away in the second quarter. Jaaron Durbin hit two threes early in the quarter, while Eagan added another three as the Cardinals outscored the Midgets 17-10 in the quarter to take a 32-17 lead at the half.
Putnam County closed the gap in the third quarter as South Shelby went cold on the offensive side of the ball. The Midgets went on a 19-5 run in the third quarter to pull to within 37-36. Made free throws, 7-of-10, in the third helped the Cardinals build the lead back to 44-38 at the end of three quarters.
Eagan opened the fourth quarter with back-to-back threes on offense for the Cardinals, which was followed by an old fashioned three point play by Wilt. South Shelby led 53-45 with 5:22 left to play.
The Cardinals weren’t as successful on their free throws late in the fourth quarter, hitting only 3-of-12 in the last three minutes of the game, but the Cardinals held on for a 62-50 win.
Wilt led the Cardinals in scoring with 16 points, followed by Eagan, who hit five threes, with 15 points.
Durbin led the team with eight rebounds, followed by Wilt with six.
