By RICHIE HALL
NOBLESVILLE – The Noblesville boys basketball team had a 32-minute mission on Saturday night: Dominate the paint.
It was mission accomplished for the Millers, as their strong inside play resulted in a 62-50 win over rival Hamilton Heights at The Mill.
“I thought it was a great team win,” said Millers coach Brian McCauley. “Coach (Chad) Ballenger does a really good job of coaching those players at Hamilton Heights and his team.”
“Our guys were locked in,” said McCauley. “It’s a big rivalry game for us. They’re good friends with a lot of the Heights players. It meant a lot for them to come out, play well. I thought everyone contributed well. It was a great team win for our guys.”
Noblesville never trailed and the game was tied only once, at 2-2. The Millers’ Eagan Keever-Hill led the way in the first quarter, showing his creativity by scoring in three different ways. Keever-Hill got the game’s first basket on a turnaround jump shot, got Noblesville ahead 6-2 on a driving layin, then answered a 3-pointer from the Huskies’ Gus Etchison with a 3-point basket of his own.
“He had a size advantage and he took advantage of that, which is smart basketball,” said McCauley. “I thought we played smart tonight. I thought we made improvements from yesterday, which was important that we did that.”
McCauley pointed out that Noblesville made 17 of 23 shot attempts from the paint, which breaks down to 7-of-9 in the first half and 10-of-14 in the second half. The coach said his team did “a much better job” of taking advantage of its strength and size inside.
“Tonight it was a point of emphasis and we really dominated the paint,” said McCauley.
The Millers did go outside every once in a while, though. Jordan Schmidt ended the first quarter with a 3-pointer, then began the second period with a 3. Two Xavier Hines free throws put Noblesville ahead 19-8.
The Huskies did stay within striking distance thanks to their outside game. Back to back 3s from AJ Field and Hudson Hochstedler cut the lead to 19-14. After a quick timeout, the Millers went on a 12-3 run. Zack Johnson scored the majority of points in that run, pouring in 10. That included a driving layin while fouled, resulting in a three-point play.
Johnson later followed up a 3-point basket with another layin, and that put Noblesville up 31-17. But two quick Heights 3s, one each from Field and Etchison, made the halftime score 31-23.
The Huskies would get as close as 38-32 midway through the third quarter, after Etchison made his fourth 3-pointer of the game. But every time Heights got close, Noblesville made another patient run.
The Millers used an 8-2 run to go up 46-34 at the end of the third period. Johnson scored six more points during that run. Earlier in the quarter, Schmidt nailed another 3 and Alex Hunt helped out by going 4-of-6 from the free throw line.
“We did a good job of getting to the free throw line and knocking those down,” said McCauley.
Keever-Hill stepped up for Noblesville to start the fourth quarter, making consecutive putbacks to get the Millers up 50-34. Heights made one more push late in the period, with an 8-0 run to get to within 56-47. But Noblesville stopped that with its own 6-0 run, which consisted of a Johnson layin sandwiched by two Hines layins.
“Zack Johnson was tremendous with how he attacked the basket, but he was the recipient of a lot of great passes from his teammates,” said McCauley. “In the corner where he can drive, also in the post as well. And he did a really good job of attacking there. I thought Jordan Schmidt was active all night and really good in our zone up top, along with Xavier, in covering the 3. And Eagan was opportunistic as well, did a nice job of getting off to a good start and then driving there in the fourth for a couple layins.”
Johnson finished the game with 26 points and seven rebounds, while Schmidt scored 13, including three 3s. Keever-Hill added 11 points and led the rebounding with eight.
Etchison made six 3-pointers for Heights and finished with 25 points, while Field hit four 3s on his way to 14 points. Hochstedler pulled five rebounds, and Etchison handed out four assists.
“I thought our kids did a great job,” said Ballenger. We’re a little undersized right now, we’re missing a couple kids. But man, they fought. We had a chance.”
The Millers were 9 of 12 from the free throw line, and only permitted Heights on foul shot, which Etchison made in the first quarter.
“We’re just not getting to the line enough, and that’s because we’re taking an easy way out, shooting a lot of 3s,” said Ballenger. “We’re capable of hitting them, I’m okay with that. But we still need to get a little more balance on the floor and get it up to the rim.”
Noblesville is 3-3 for the season. The Millers will travel to Taylor on Friday, where they will play the Titans in a game that will replace their canceled game with Columbus East. On Saturday, Noblesville hosts Pike.
The Huskies are 5-3 and will next play at the Franklin County tournament next Saturday. Heights will play East Central at noon, with another game that evening.
Noblesville 62, Hamilton Heights 50
Heights FG FT TP PF
Gus Etchison 9-21 1-1 25 3
Issiac Hickok 0-4 0-0 0 4
Brent Pennington 0-1 0-0 0 2
AJ Field 5-10 0-0 14 1
Hudson Hochstedler 2-3 0-0 5 1
Cory Vonfeldt 2-7 0-0 6 0
Jonny Cambron 0-0 0-0 0 0
Totals 18-46 1-1 50 11
Heights 3-point shooting (13-33) Etchison 6-15, Field 4-8, Vonfeldt 2-7, Hochstedler 1-1, Hickok 0-2.
Heights rebounds (19) Hochstedler 5, Etchison 4, Field 4, Vonfeldt 2, Hickok 2, Pennington 2.
Noblesville FG FT TP PF
Xavier Hines 3-8 2-2 8 2
Alex Hunt 0-0 4-6 4 1
Zack Johnson 12-16 1-1 26 2
Eagan Keever-Hill 5-9 0-0 11 3
Jordan Schmidt 4-6 2-2 13 1
Brendon Fisher 0-0 0-1 0 1
Totals 24-39 9-12 62 10
Noblesville 3-point shooting (5-12) Schmidt 3-5, Keever-Hill 1-2, Johnson 1-2, Hines 0-3.
Noblesville rebounds (23) Keever-Hill 8, Johnson 7, Schmidt 3, Hines 2, Hunt 2, team 1.
Score by Quarters
Heights 8 15 11 16 – 50
Noblesville 14 17 15 16 – 62
Noblesville’s Eagan Keever-Hill scored 11 points for the Millers in their 62-50 win over Hamilton Heights Saturday at The Mill. Keever-Hill is shown here being guarded by the Huskies’ Brent Pennington (14) and Hudson Hochstedler (24). (Kent Graham)