There will be no more teasing Shelby Valley about ability to make free throws.

The Wildcats went 21-for-23 from the line Saturday night, sealing a 73-61 victory over Ballard in the finals of the 93rd PNC/KHSAA Boys' State Tournament.

A Rupp Arena crowd of 15,048 witnessed the poise under pressure.

"Last year everybody teased us," said Ashley Hatfield, who had Saturday's two misses but finished 8-for-10. "In the All 'A' we missed like 15 in a row or something. ... Every day we practice 50 free throws. We were ready for it. We have a lot of experience and that's what we wanted to come out and do. When it was clutch, we were able to knock them down."

Shelby Valley (32-4), in its first state finals, became the fourth team from the 15th Region and the first from Pike County to win the state title.

The Wildcats, who won 19 of their last 20 games, oozed confidence. Their warmup shirts read "Got Rings?" on the front and "We Deuce" on back — a reminder of their two straight All "A" state titles. All five starters are seniors, making a third Sweet Sixteen in four years.

"These guys worked so hard all their lives to get to this," Coach Jason Booher said. "I'm so glad that they could cut down the nets here at Rupp Arena."

Ballard (32-5) was denied the 1,000th victory in program history. Ballard ended its 40th season with an all-time record of 999-268.

Since winning their third state title in 1999, the Bruins are 0-3 in finals, also falling in 2003 and '07.

"I give them a tremendous amount of credit. Shelby Valley, they earned this victory tonight," Ballard Coach Chris Renner said. "But I'm proud of our guys. ... We had to go, by far, the toughest road to get here. Came up short."

Renner referred to Ballard's district, which included top-ranked Trinity, a region that included three top-20 opponents, and an upper bracket this week that put the Bruins against Shelby County, Warren Central and Scott County.

Hatfield, 6-foot-6, netted 21 points, eight rebounds, five assists, three blocks and three steals Saturday.

Tourney MVP Elisha Justice and Taylor Newsome had 17 points each, going a combined 12-for-12 at the free-throw line. Justice also had two steals, completing his career with a state-record 732. Newsome led the Wildcats with nine rebounds.

"They were running us, double-teaming me everywhere we went," Justice said. "My legs were getting tired but we knew this was the last one. We wanted to leave everything out on the floor. That's exactly what we did."

Cody Varney had 13 points, including a three-point play with 34.4 seconds that removed any doubt about the outcome. His free throw made it 71-59.

"The opportunity was open. I just grabbed it," Varney said. "The atmosphere is amazing. This is the greatest experience. This is what we all wanted. We got it."

Ballard, 8-for-12 from the foul stripe, was led by Ian Chiles with 23 points and four steals. Keasten Jones had 17 points. Tyrell Means totaled 15 points and nine rebounds. All three were all-tournament picks.

Shelby Valley led 36-32 in a half that saw each team break off a 14-2 run.

The Wildcats opened a 48-34 lead early in the third quarter, only to see Ballard finish the period with a 13-2 run.

With less than three minutes left, Shelby Valley's lead was a mere 59-55.

The Wildcats scored their next seven points at the free-throw line, while Ballard got only a Chiles' put-back.

Another Chiles score made it 66-59.

Varney scored on a runout and, after a Chiles miss, the decisive three-point play.