T-L Photo/KIM NORTH SHADYSIDE’S KELLY Hendershot (23) shoots over the defense of River’s Kam Potts Friday night inside a nearly jam-packed Tigers Den. Hendershot had 28 points to lead the Tigers to a 58-40 victory.

SHADYSIDE — It may have been pouring cats and dogs outside Shadyside High School Friday night, but it was raining threes inside the Tigers Den for the second night in a row.

Twenty-four hours after the Lady Tigers established a school-record with 17 three-point goals, the boys knocked down 11 in a 58-40 victory over visiting River (6-11).

Kelly Hendershot had five of the bonus bombs en route to a game-high 28 points. The 6-2 senior was on target all night as his 6-for-7 effort from the floor and a 9-for-10 showing from the free throw line will attest.

“That’s good because some of our layups weren’t,” veteran Shadyside head coach Ed Andes said of his team’s ability to shoot the longball. The Tigers were 11-for-18 (61 percent) from beyond the bonus arc and only 5-for-12 from inside it. River was 8-for-27 from three-point land.

Korey Beckett had a pair of treys to get the Tigers (11-5) started and Hendershot had seven first-quarter points as the hosts led 17-11.

River kept the tempo to its liking, for the most part, but Shadyside went on a 11-0 run over the final five-and-a-half minutes to lead 29-18 at the half. The Tigers only shot four field goals, making three, as Hendershot was 5-for-6 from the charity stripe.

“I expected River to slow it down. Think about it. Everyone wants to play at their own pace. We want to kind of get out and run, and we did a good job of that, but then we slowed down and matched their pace,” Andes added. “We wanted to make them guard us and Kelly had the hot hand tonight, so we kept the ball in his hands as much as possible.”

The margin increased to 20, 38-18, early in the third panel as Hendershot drilled back-to-back triples and Tyler Parr connected from deep. However, the Pilots didn’t back down as sophomore Kam Potts came off the bench to spark a 14-5 spurt with five points to end the third quarter as the deficit was whittled to 43-32 when Stone Thompson connected for one of eight bonus goals for the Pilots.

“Kelly did a nice job in the second half. He stepped up. When he makes his outside shots, he’s real dangerous,” Andes said of his senior stalwart. “Then when you come out to guard him, he can right around you on the dribble.”

Thompson and Potts sandwiched a pair of treys around a Shadyside timeout to start the fourth quarter as the Pilots navigated to within six, 43-37.

Andes called a timeout to try and stop River’s momentum.

It worked, with the help of Hendershot’s fifth three-pointer that jump-started a 15-3 closing run.

“We were doing a good job of running our offense and getting the shots that we wanted where we wanted them,” River veteran head coach Mark Romick said. “We clawed our way back and I thought we played pretty good defense with the size disadvantage we faced. The guys played hard on defense.

“There were two stretches in the game,” Romick noted. “Right at the end of the first half when they ran it out to a 10-point lead, but we got it back to six then we did the same things we did early. The degree of difficulty sometimes with our shots is a shot that won’t go in. There are times that you need to be patient to you get the really good one (shot). It might be 45 seconds into the clock. We did a good job of that in the third quarter and into the fourth, but then our youth showed through.”

Bryce Amos joined Hendershot in double digits with a dozen. Beckett finished with nine. Parr had six, but hit a big three after the Pilots made it 48-40. He also had a steal at the other end of the court that all but sealed the deal. Mason VanNest, although he didn’t score, pulled down a game-best six rebounds and charted four steals. Hendershot and Amos both collected five boards.

Potts, playing in his first varsity action of the season, and Colton Lawrence each had eight points to lead River. Brody Lollathin added seven. Thompson and Avery Cramer evenly split a dozen. Potts and Thompson had five rebounds apiece.

River charted 12 turnovers, one more than Shadyside. The Pilots also claimed a slim, 29-28, advantage on the glass.

With the win, Shadyside kept its OVAC playoff hopes alive. It is battling Clay-Battelle for third place in Class 2A. The Tigers make the short trip north on Ohio 7 to Bellaire Tuesday night.

“It’s a big team win,” Andes noted. “We were able to finish tonight when they made that little run at us. That was the key.”

River, meanwhile, makes a further trip up Ohio 7 to Steubenville Catholic next Friday.