Wow.

What a first game of the sectional. Shelbyville rallies from a 14-point deficit, outscores New Palestine 27-11 over the last 9 minutes, and wins 50-48 on a last-second drive by Patrick Ellis.

The Golden Bears won it with the 3-point shot, with John Krise starting things with a long 3, and then John Hartnett adding one right ahead of the third-quarter buzzer that seemed to turn momentum. A helter-skelter first two minutes of the fourth quarter followed, but Krise bounced in another long 3 to cut the deficit to four, and all of a sudden, the game was close.

Shelby finally tied the game at 45, and NP's Taylor Rainey played hero, hitting a long 3 to give the Dragons a 48-45 lead. But the Bears took it out of the net, pushed it ahead and Ben Kramer buried the game-tying shot out of the corner seconds later to knot things in the closing minute. Ellis then stole an inbounds pass and held for one. After a timeout, he dribbled through NP's 1-3-1 zone and laid the ball in with 4.1 seconds left. The Dragons got off a late look from Trevor Baker, but it fell off, giving Shelbyville a victory.

Krise had 12, Ellis 10 for Shelbyville, which hit 6-of-12 from deep in the second half. Krise had 10 points in the final nine minutes, and also hit a putback at the first-half buzzer to cut what had been a nine-point NP lead to 23-20. Rainey had 12 and Baker 11 for NP, with nine of Baker's points coming in the second half.

NP finishes 11-10, with a couple of OT losses and a couple of last-second ones. Seven seniors graduate for the Dragons, but they were the nucleus of a 2009 sectional championship team. Shelby, which is junior-loaded, heads to face Rushville in Friday's second semifinal.

We will be broadcasting Friday's first semifinal between Mt. Vernon (19-2) and Hamilton Heights (12-7), with the pregame at 5:40 p.m.

The title game will be at 7:30 p.m. Saturday if the Golden Bears win on Friday night; it will be Monday if Rushville wins, as the game will be moved to accommodate the Rushville girls team playing in the State Finals.