Wildcat senior Cass Barnes goes up for a basket under heavy pressure from Shelbyville's Robby Rowland.

  A tip in by Shelbyville’s Robby Rowland with 5:21 left in the game gave the Eagles their first lead of the game, and they would never trail again on their way to a hard-fought, 46-42 win over the Tullahoma Wildcats Friday night at the THS gym.
  Rowland’s hustling tip in completed an Eagle comeback from a deficit that reached as much as 13 points late in the first half. Less than a minute later, Tory Robertson scored on a rebound of his own miss, and Deonta Twilley added a bucket at the 3:03 mark to give the Eagles a six-point lead.
  But, the Wildcats fought back valiantly, if not completely. A Cass Barnes bucket and two free throws by Alan Prince cut the Eagles’ lead to 39-37 with 1:50 left, but they held off the Tullahoma charge with seven free throws in the final two minutes. In the end, Shelbyville wound up winning it at the line by hitting 11 of 14 free throws in the fourth quarter. The Cats, meanwhile, only got to the line 10 times for the entire game, and they missed four, including the front end of a pair of crucial one-and-ones late in the final period. The Eagles were 19 of 24 for the game.

Senior Chelsea Meeks spins back to earth after performing a stunt with the THS cheerleaders during Friday night's game.

  Still, the Cats got to within 41-40 with 48 seconds left when Adam Barnett pulled up and bombed in a long three-pointer, and a Barnes basket with eight seconds left cut it to two points, but they couldn’t stop the clock and were forced to foul, leading to Shelbyville’s final two points.
  The Wildcats came out controlling the game against the league-leading Eagles and jumped to a 10-2 lead. They continued to control the pace with their 2-3 zone most of the half, and when Barnett nailed three free throws with 2:45 left in the half, the Cats went up 24-11.
  Shelbyville then started the climb out of the hole with an 11-point run that encompassed the final 2:13 of the second quarter and the first 2:09 of the third quarter. By the time Barnes scored again for the Wildcats, the 13-point lead was down to two. Tullahoma managed to hang onto the narrow lead until Shelbyville finally tied it on the first basket of the fourth quarter. It was tied twice more before Rowland’s tip in finally got the Eagles over the hump.
  The win keeps the Eagles unbeaten in the district at 6-0. The Wildcats are tied for third with a 3-3 record and another crucial district contest coming Tuesday when Franklin County brings its 5-1 district record to THS. First, though the Wildcats must bounce back quickly from Friday’s disappointment to play Warren County at home tonight.

Shelbyville (46) Ransom, 7; Twilley, 7; France, 9; Tory Robertson, 10; Robby Rowland, 13.
Wildcats (42) Tryston Horton, 8; Adam Barnett, 12; Cass Barnes, 18; Alan Prince, 4.