Jersey's Luke Shively looks for an opening in the recent IHSA Class 3A Jersey Regional title matchup against Civic Memorial.If Jersey ever had an “Iron Man” it would have to be boys’ basketball player Luke Shively this season.

He fought off a lingering back problem to play in all 32 of Jersey’s games and in the final two seconds of last Friday’s IHSA Class 3A Jersey Regional championship game he scored the 1,000th point of his career.

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Shively, always humble and a team player, said he wishes the Panthers had won the regional.

“It would have been a lot nicer to have won the regional and then get the 1,000,” he said. “I would take the regional over the 1,000 points, but I guess I will take it.”

When asked about the pain he encountered this season, he said it was something he could deal with and he hopes to make it through the upcoming baseball season.

“Every day of practice there would be times I would be on the floor and stretching out and in a lot of pain,” Shively said. “I thank my teammates for trusting in me that I could make my shots.”

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Shively’s athletic career will end if he completes the baseball season for the Panthers, he said.

“I am going to Missouri to study,” he said. “I am going to study agriculture business and go wherever that takes me.”

After the loss, Shively said he and teammate Jake Varble told the younger players they will have to work even harder in the off season to win a regional title next season.

Shively attributes much of his season's success to coach Stote Reeder.

“Ever since I came in here he has been telling me I have to keep working hard and obviously the hard work paid off,” he said. “I put up some pretty nice numbers.”

Coach Reeder said he was sad to see all the seniors go.

“I couldn’t be more proud of all of them,” he said. “I love them; I hate that I won’t be able to coach them anymore.  I don’t think anybody has a clue what kind of pain Luke has been in. For him to give us all 32 games this year, words can’t describe what he meant to this program.”

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