Photo Provided by Kristin Mazgaj Shadyside’s Alec Shepherd makes a move to the basket during Tuesday’s game against Linsly. Shepherd scored 17 points to lead the Tigers.

SHADYSIDE — Ed Andes is watching his Shadyside Tigers grow up right before his eyes.

And Tuesday night was another huge step in their maturation process.

With underclassmen scoring all but 10 of the Shadyside points, the Tigers — in front of a large and loud crowd in the den — avenged an earlier loss to Linsly with a hard-earned 75-66 overtime victory.

“This is a very good, big win for us,” Andes said. “We have a lot of guys contributing and a lot of kids off the bench contributed. It was just a great team win.”

Linsly (4-10) looked like it was on the brink of pulling away from the Tigers. The Cadets led by as many as nine twice in the second half, but simply couldn’t deliver a knockout blow.

Sophomore Alec Shepherd, who led all scorers with 17, scored with 2:12 to play and then again with 1:15 showing to knot the game.

Linsly ran the final 75 seconds, which included three timeouts in that stretch, off before turning the ball over inside of three seconds to go in regulation.

“We did a very good job (defensively) down the stretch,” Andes said. “I thought, throughout the fourth, we were pretty solid on defense. We communicated well.”

That defensive mindset carried over into the extra session, too. Marshall Taylor opened the scoring for Linsly with a bucket, but Shadyside proceeded to score the next 10.

Junior Kelly Hendershot — who ignited the crowd and a couple of Shadyside spurts with emphatic dunks in transition — scored and then after a steal impressive freshman Bryce Amos scored.

Freshman Korey Beckett, who hit four 3-pointers and finished with 16 points, got a leaner to go after another Cadets turnover. Hendershot got free on the endline for a goal and Beckett knocked down two at the line to cap the spurt.

“Give Shadyside a lot of credit because they played really good defense, pressured us really hard and got physical with us down the stretch,” Linsly coach James Wallace said. “We didn’t handle the basketball well and missed some easy looks. In a game like that, where there’s so much effort and intensity, it comes down to making shots and they made more than we did.”

Linsly didn’t recover from the Shadyside flurry. Trevin Tush scored four of his 15 in the overtime, but the Cadets were never able to mount any type of run.

“We played really well in the overtime, got good shots and played great defense,” Andes said.

The road back started before the fourth quarter, however.

Usually, it was because of one of the Shadyside cubs made a play. Hendershot, who didn’t play in the first meeting with the Cadets as he continued to work his way back from a football injury, finished with 15 points and 10 rebounds. The dunks, which were the first of his career, were sparkplugs just as Linsly appeared to have mounted some momentum.

Beckett’s fourth trey of the game put Shadyside on top for the first time since the second quarter with just under six minutes to play in regulation.

“We had kids step up all over the place,” Andes said. “As different guys are starting to really emerge in their roles, it’s taking some of the (scoring) pressure off of Kelly, which is really big for us. We’re getting two or three guys in double figures, which is great for us.”

Shepherd, Beckett and Hendershot’s production was complemented by Amos’ 13.

Linsly got 16 from Jon Milton and 13 from Taylor sandwiched around Tush’s effort. Hunter Kelley added 12. Senior Eli Petho came off the bench to lead everyone in rebounding with 14.

“Our effort and attitude are really good, but we just have to make a few more plays,” Wallace said. “We have a great locker room and our kids play hard no matter what. This is a fun bunch to coach.”