Shelbyville's Owen Beyers dropped 29 points, the Tornadoes blew a 14 point lead, and Taylorville used a strong 26 point fourth quarter as the Taylorville Tornadoes won a non-conference game against the Shelbyville Rams on Tuesday evening 65-56. The Tornadoes got off to a fast start courtesy of Malique Pearse.  The senior forward poured in ten points in the first quarter and the Tornadoes got contributions from Maddex Havera along with Brock Brown and Blake Ladage.  Towards the end of the first, the Rams started chipping away at the Taylorville lead--a theme that would rear its ugly head multiple times throughout the evening. 

With a 21-11 lead at the end of the first, the Tornadoes felt that they were going to cruise to a easy victory, but the Rams fought back as Taylorville struggled to find the net.  Thanks to a 10 point contribution from Beyers along with 5 points from Aiden Hardy and 3 from Gabe Georges, the Rams clawed their way back into the game once again with an 18-11 lead. The Tornadoes went into the locker room up 32-29. 

Into the third quarter, Taylorville jumped out to a 7-0 run ballooning the score 39-29.  Once again, Shelbyville came storming back, this time in the last 2 1/2 minutes with 11 points as Shelbyville took their second lead of the night. When the horn sounded at the end of the third, Shelbyville lead 40-39 with 5 points from Taylorville's Maddex Havera, who would foul out in the third quarter.  Taylorville was outscored 11-7 in the third.

In the fourth quarter, Taylorville would take over and not look back, although Shelbyville hung around for a good portion of the fourth. Taylorville went 12/16 from the free throw line including 7 from Pearse who was nearly perfect from the line (8/9). The Tornadoes would also get contributions from Brock Brown in the fourth who dropped 11 points in the fourth en route to a 17 point night. 

                             1              2             3          4

Taylorville          21           11            7          26        65
Shelbyville         11            18           11        16        56

Malique Pearse was named the WTIM Nicole Patrick Country Financial player of the game for his 21 points, strong defense, and being nearly flawless from the free throw line. 

Leading Point scorers:  Taylorville; Malique Pearse 21, Brock Brown 17, Maddex Havera 12, Blake Ladage 7. Shelbyville Owen Beyers 29, Aidan Hardy 12, Gabe Georges 6, Karson Bruns 5.