Whippet boys hold off Marion Harding 64-61

MARION — Shelby put three players in double figures and held off a second-half comeback by Marion Harding to capture a 64-61 Mid Ohio Athletic Conference boys basketball win Thursday evening.

Marshall Shepherd’s 17 points paced the Whippets, who are 2-0 in the conference and 3-0 overall. Jeremy

Holloway added 16 and Alex Bruskotter hit for 14.

Holloway came up huge for SHS with a double-double that featured 10 boards.

“Talked to Jeremy about being more aggressive offensively and he did a good job tonight. He has a lot of experience having played as a sophomore and a junior and is also one of our leaders. I was most proud of the way he rebounded,” said Shelby coach Greg Gallaway.

The Whippets scored the first six points of the contest and never trailed. The Presidents pulled within one on three occasions in the second half.

“They got within one three times, but we were able to find ways to build the lead back up to three, four, five points,” said the SHS coach.

Taking a 14-8 lead at the close of the opening quarter, Shelby quickly expanded the advantage to 10 in the first 90 seconds of the second quarter on hoops by Bruskotter and Holloway to make it 18-8.

Shepherd’s turn around from eight feet away capped a 9-0 burst for the Whippets as the visitors took the their largest lead of the evening at 27-11 midway through the second stanza.

SHS was in front 31-23 at the intermission. The visitors took a 45-42 lead into the final eight minutes of action.

Riley Keeran led Harding, now 1-1 in the MOAC and 1-2 overall, with 21 points. Marques Long was next with 15.

Shelby is home against Galion Saturday.

SHELBY (64)

Hill 2 3 7, Brubaker 3 0 6, Shepherd 6 3 17, Bruskotter 7 0 14, Ramsey 2 0 4, Holloway 7 2 16, Totals 27 8-14 64.

MARION HARDING (61)

Pedraza 1 1 3, Long 4 6 15, Temple 4 0 9, Stokes 4 0 8, Coleman 1 0 2, Keeran 7 3 21, Thomas 1 1 3, Totals 22 11-20 61.

Shelby ............... 14171419—64 Marion Harding... 8 15 19 19 —61

Three-point field goals — Shepherd (S) 2, Long (M), Temple (M), Keeran (M) 4.