The Martinsville Artesians will wrap up 2023 with a road trip to face off against the Shelbyville Golden Bears at 7:30 p.m. on Friday. Both teams took a loss in their last game, so they'll have plenty of motivation to get the 'W'.
Martinsville pushed their score all the way to 57 last Tuesday, but even that wasn't enough to win. They fell just short of Indian Creek by a score of 60-57. While losing is never fun, Martinsville can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Indiana basketball rankings (they are ranked 252nd, while Indian Creek is ranked 56th).
The loss doesn't tell the whole story though, as several players had good games. One of the most active was Grady Gardner, who scored 23 points. The match was his seventh in a row with at least ten points. Aj Reynolds was another key contributor, dropping a double-double on ten points and 13 rebounds.
Even though they lost, Martinsville were smashing the offensive glass and finished the game with 12 offensive rebounds. That's the most offensive rebounds they've managed all season.
Meanwhile, Shelbyville suffered a rough 61-40 loss at the hands of Franklin Community on Wednesday. The loss unfortunately continues a disappointing trend for Shelbyville in their matchups with Franklin Community: they've now lost three in a row.
Martinsville now has a losing record at 3-4. As for Shelbyville, their defeat ended a six-game streak of wins at home dating back to last season and dropped them to 6-4.
