By RICHIE HALL
NOBLESVILLE – After a long but successful day at the Noblesville Holiday Tournament, Millers coach John Peckinpaugh had this to day about the efforts of his young team: “I think we took a step tonight.”
It was a good tournament for Noblesville, who finished third with a Saturday evening victory over Northridge. The Millers got off to a splendid start in the first quarter, then held off a comeback by the Raiders in the second half to win 67-59.
Earlier in the day, Noblesville fell to Columbus North 51-42 in the semi-finals, another hard-fought game. Add that to the Millers’ Friday win over Crown Point, and that’s a 2-1 weekend for the team.
“To go 2-1 in this tournament with the talent and then the coaches that are in this says a lot about our young group,” said Peckinpaugh.
Noblesville scored the first 12 points of the third-place game, holding Northridge scoreless for the first four and a half minutes. Jordan Gadis scored five of those points, Preston Roberts added another four and Brendon Fisher hit a 3-pointer.
The Millers led 19-6 at the end of one, with E.J. Smith finishing the quarter off with a 3. The Raiders began working their way back into the game during the second period, but Noblesville kept its lead, holding a 30-25 advantage at halftime.
A 3 by Evan Wilson put the Millers up 33-27 early in the third quarter. Northridge went on an 11-0 run at that point to go ahead 38-33. Noblesville took the lead back with back-to-back 3s from Fisher and Trenton Reed. But a putback from Sam Smith gave the Raiders the lead at the end of the period, at 43-41.
The back and forth continued for much of the fourth quarter, and Northridge was up 54-53 with under four minutes to go. But the Millers took control after that, going on a 12-2 run. Gadis led the way with eight points, including a 3-pointer and a traditional three-point play. Alex Hunt added a layin, and Fisher finished the run by making a pair of free throws.
“You can never put them away, because they can always get back in it with their 3-point shot,” Peckinpaugh said of Northridge. “But we just stuck with the process, didn’t get rattled when they came back and made a little charge at us. I’m just proud of our guys and how they fought.”
Gadis was Noblesville’s top scorer with 19 points, followed by E.J. Smith’s 12. Fisher drained three 3s on his way to 11 points. Roberts pulled nine rebounds.
The Millers hung tough with Columbus North in their semi-final game. The game was tied at 10-10 after one quarter, then the Bull Dogs moved ahead 23-20 by halftime. E.J. Smith had six points for Noblesville in that half.
The Millers led 30-28 in the third quarter before Columbus North went on a 10-0 run. Freshman Cooper Horn completed the run with back-to-back 3s.
Smith answered for Noblesville, also making back-to-back triples to pull the Millers within 39-36. But the Bull Dogs promptly went on a 9-0 run. Hunt stopped it with his own 3-pointer, but Columbus North made a 6-0 run to put the game out of reach.
Smith led Noblesville with 12 points, with Roberts scoring 10. Hunt had eight rebounds and two blocked shots.
Blackhawk Christian won the tournament, beating Northridge 84-75 in the semi-finals and Columbus North 62-59 in the championship.
The Millers are 5-6 and are off until Jan. 7 when they play at Pike.
NOBLESVILLE 67, NORTHRIDGE 59
Noblesville FG FT TP PF
Jordan Gadis 6-11 5-6 19 3
Brendon Fisher 3-10 2-2 11 1
Evan Wilson 2-5 0-0 5 1
Alex Hunt 3-3 0-2 6 4
Preston Roberts 3-5 0-0 6 4
E.J. Smith 4-8 2-4 12 1
Noah Harris 2-3 1-3 5 1
Trenton Reed 1-1 0-0 3 2
David Lloyd 0-0 0-0 0 0
Totals 24-46 10-17 67 17
Score by Quarters
Northridge 6 19 18 16 – 59
Noblesville 19 11 11 26 – 67
Noblesville 3-point shooting (9-23) Fisher 3-9, Gadis 2-4, Smith 2-4, Wilson 1-4, Reed 1-1, Roberts 0-1.
Noblesville rebounds (26) Roberts 9, Gadis 4, Harris 4, Fisher 3, Smith 2, Hunt 2, Reed 1, Wilson 1.
COLUMBUS NORTH 51, NOBLESVILLE 42
Noblesville FG FT TP PF
Jordan Gadis 3-6 0-0 7 3
Brendon Fisher 1-5 0-0 3 1
Evan Wilson 1-3 0-0 3 2
Alex Hunt 3-6 0-0 7 5
Preston Roberts 4-6 1-2 10 3
E.J. Smith 4-6 1-1 12 1
Noah Harris 0-1 0-0 0 0
Totals 16-33 2-3 42 15
Score by Quarters
Noblesville 10 10 10 12 – 42
Columbus North 10 13 12 16 – 51
Noblesville 3-point shooting (8-22) Smith 3-5, Fisher 1-5, Hunt 1-4, Gadis 1-3, Wilson 1-2, Roberts 1-2, Harris 0-1.
Noblesville rebounds (19) Hunt 8, Gadis 4, Fisher 2, Roberts 2, Smith 1, Harris 1, Wilson 1.
Noblesville’s Preston Roberts had solid performances in both of the Millers’ games at their Holiday Tournament on Saturday. Roberts scored 10 points in Noblesville’s game with Columbus North, then had nine rebounds and six points in the Millers’ contest with Northridge. (Kent Graham)