Heroics took a variety of forms and personalities as the Russellville Panthers edged Sheldon Clark High School 70-69 to advance in the winners’ bracket of the Traditional Bank Holiday Classic at Lexington Catholic High School Monday.
As usual, Pedro Bradshaw was the statistical leader with 17 points, 16 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 blocked shots and 2 steals. Jaylyn McMurry wasn’t far behind with 11 points, 9 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 blocks. Paul Jones contributed 10 points, 8 rebounds, a steal and an assist.
They are also seniors, as is DeShawn Mason, who scored all 14 of his points in the first half to help Coach Phil Todd’s team build a 33-28 lead at the intermission.
Another senior, Shon Kees, added 7 points and a steal. He hit his only 3-point attempt along the way.
The sixth senior, point guard Micah Naylor, scored 8 points and had 4 assists. Also impressive was that he had only one turnover while doing the majority of the ball-handling.
Naylor was also involved in a huge play to send the game into overtime. Elijah Kemp hit a 3-pointer with about a minute remaining in regulation to tie the game. The Cardinals went ahead by three points, but sophomore Jacob Naylor saved a ball before it went out of bounds and passed it to his brother. Micah responded by hitting a trey to tie the game 64-64 with seven seconds remaining.
The Panthers went up by a point as the OT neared an end. Sheldon Clark missed a couple of shots at the buzzer, and RHS got its sixth win against three losses.
Shooting woes had kept the Panthers from building a big lead. Even Bradshaw had trouble at the line, going 9 of 14. The team hit just 15 of 29 free throws. From long range, the Panthers hit 5 of 21, even though Mason was 2 of 2. The team was 20 of 48 on two-pointers.
Russellville made the most of Cardinal errors, scoring 20 points on turnovers, as compared to 4 for the losers. The Panthers also got big production from their reserves, outscoring the Cardinals 23-6 in bench points.
The Cardinals stayed alive by hitting 14 of 16 free throws and a couple of more treys, also in 21 tries.
Shawn Moore led SCHS with 25 points by hitting 5 of 8 three-pointers. Bradley Dalton scored 17 points, Austin Horn 12 and Dylan James 11. Horn added 14 rebounds.
Now the Panthers get a chance to open some eyes in the state. Todd’s team will meet defending state champion Lexington Paul Lawrence Dunbar at 5:30 p.m. Russellville time Tuesday.
RHS girls soccer coach Jonathan White says that game will match the two leading candidates for Mr. Basketball, Russellville’s Bradshaw and Dunbar’s Taveion Hollingsworth, who was MVP of the state tournament last year. Bradshaw has signed to play for Belmont University and Hollingsworth with Western Kentucky University.
Assistant basketball coach Ryan Davenport says Bradshaw is averaging 21 points, 15 rebounds and 5 assists per game. “Jaylyn is almost averaging a double-double,” Davenport adds. “He’s scoring 10 points and pulling in 8 rebounds a game.”