The Shelby boy's hoop squad held serve at home in their season opener against traditional opening night foe Madison, with a 77-68 win over the Rams.
The Whippets put up 18 in the first quarter to build a five-point cushion then extended their lead to 36-26 by halftime. TJ Pugh led the Shelby scoring attack with a team-best 25 points, helping balloon the Whippets advantage to 60-34 heading into the final quarter where Madison made a charge with a 34-17 scoring margin but ran out of time.
Cody Lantz was solid with 13 points while Shelby teammate Jonny Devito chipped-in with 11, Parker Lewis had nine and both Grant Gossom and Jeremy Holloway added four.
Tyler Tacket was the top Rams scoring threat with a game-high 26 to go along with 17 from Isaac Brooks and nine by Steven Williams.
Madison next travels to West Holmes while the Whippets head cross-county to Ontario.