By RICHIE HALL
FISHERS – They were down by 10 at halftime, but the Fishers Tigers kept pressing on.
Fishers entered its game with Noblesville Friday at the Tiger Den as the No. 1-ranked team in the Class 4A Associated Press rankings. The 4A No. 10 Millers played a great first half to lead at the break, but Fishers came back with a dominant third quarter, then held on in the fourth for a 66-59 win.
It was the first Hoosier Crossroads Conference game of the season for both teams.
Noblesville held the lead for all but a few seconds of the first half. The Millers were up 5-3 when the Tigers’ JonAnthony Hall made a 3-pointer, but Noblesville responded with a Will Smits basket and a 3 from T.J. Davidson.
Justin Curry’s triple got the Millers up 13-9, after which baskets from Nathan Baker and Jason Gardner Jr. tied the game at 13-13. Aiden Brewer gave Noblesville a 15-13 lead after one quarter with a layin.
Noblesville’s Justin Curry had 11 points for the Millers. (Joshua Herd)
Brewer’s basket began a 9-0 run for the Millers. Hunter Walston made a dunk, Aaron Fine put in a floater and Ryan Vetor drained a triple. Fine led the way in the last minutes of the half, answering several Tigers baskets. He hit a long 3-pointer at the buzzer to give Noblesville a 33-23 lead at the break.
“The first half I just felt we were not doing what we do,” said Fishers coach Garrett Winegar. “We were trying to trap in the halfcourt and random situations like, we were just leaving our man.”
Winegar said the focus at halftime was “how we want to attack them, the type of shots we wanted to get and then on defense just being solid.” The adjustments worked, as Fishers opened the second half with seven straight points.
Keenan Garner scored off a steal, Millen McCartney drained a 3 and Taden Metzger made a layin. Davidson stopped that initial run with a 3, but the Tigers then went on a 13-4 spurt to lead 43-40. Cooper Zachary and Metzger both made 3s, Garner added four points and Hall got his team in front with a three-point play.
“They threw a lot of different looks out at me,” said Garner. “I feel like it was more congested in the paint, so I was really kicking it off to our shooters, just trusting my teammates to knock it down, like Taden, Millen, Cooper, JonAnthony. We all hit big 3s, big shots.”
Four consecutive free throws from Baron Walker moved Noblesville back in front 44-43. Gardner tied the game with a free throw, then Hall was good on his second and-1 of the quarter. That put Fishers up 47-44 after three.
The Tigers were playing a full-court press defense, something that Winegar brought with him from his days at Warren Central – “84 feet for 32 minutes,” said the coach. Winegar said playing press is something his team has always wanted to do, and it comes down to getting players to buy into “how hard you got to play to do that” and how well of physical condition they need to be in.
“That’s what we’re trying to do, and now we’re just finally doing it,” said Winegar. “And guys getting more mature physically really helps.”
The Tigers stayed in front for the entire fourth quarter. Garner took over the game with 10 points in the early stages, then Metzger hit his third 3 of the game to push Fishers ahead 62-55. Zachary and Parker Perdue finished the game by making two free throws each.
Garner scored 22 points, with Hall adding 16 and Metzger scoring 11. Fine had 24 points for Noblesville, while Curry scored 11.
“They just completely took us out of our offense,” said Millers coach Scott McClelland. “We talked all week that our offense had to help our defense. The first half, for the most part, it did. The second half, it didn’t and that ultimately is the difference in the game.”
Fishers is 4-0 and hosts Mount Vernon tonight, while Noblesville is 2-1 and plays next Friday at Carmel.
FISHERS 66, NOBLESVILLE 59
Noblesville FG FT TP PF
TJ Davidson 3 0-1 8 3
Aaron Fine 6 9-9 24 4
Justin Curry 4 1-2 11 2
Hunter Walston 1 1-2 3 3
Will Smits 2 0-0 4 1
Aiden Brewer 1 0-0 2 1
Baron Walker 0 4-4 4 1
Luke Etchison 0 0-0 0 0
Ryan Vetor 1 0-0 3 0
Adam Fine 0 0-0 0 0
Luke Davis 0 0-0 0 0
Totals 18 15-18 59 15
Noblesville 3-pointers (8) Aa. Fine 3, Davidson 2, Curry 2, Vetor.
Fishers FG FT TP PF
Taden Metzger 4 0-0 11 1
Millen McCartney 2 0-0 5 2
Cooper Zachary 1 2-2 5 4
JonAnthony Hall 6 3-7 16 4
Keenan Garner 8 5-9 22 5
Jason Gardner Jr. 1 1-2 3 0
Justin Kirby 0 0-0 0 0
Parker Perdue 0 2-2 2 1
Nathan Baker 1 0-0 2 2
Totals 23 13-22 66 19
Fishers 3-pointers (7) Metzger 3, McCartney, Zachary, Hall, Garner.
Score by Quarters
Noblesville 15 18 11 15 – 59
Fishers 13 10 24 19 – 66