By RICHIE HALL
NOBLESVILLE – If the Noblesville boys basketball team’s Saturday win over Fort Wayne Northrop had a theme, it would be “Easy does it.”
Finally back home at The Mill for the first time in three weeks, the Millers trailed the Bruins for much of the first half. But Noblesville took over in the second half and cruised to a 57-45 win.
“We just chipped away at it,” said Millers coach John Peckinpaugh. The coach said his team “valued each possession,” and Noblesville reaped the benefits, shooting 51 percent from the field and outscoring Northrop 34-20 in the second half.
“I thought our guys did a really good job in the second half of not going for the home-run play,” said Peckinpaugh. “We just made simple plays. We got easy baskets. We did a great job defensively.”
While the Bruins led for the majority of the first half, Noblesville never let them get too far in front. The Millers led 8-6 midway through the first quarter before the Bruins went on a 7-0 run to go up 13-8. EJ Smith ended the run with a 3-pointer – his third of the period – but Northrop’s Khamani Smith nailed his own 3 to finish the quarter and put his team up 16-11.
A layin from Devin Baney opened the second quarter and gave the Bruins their largest lead of the game at 18-11. But Northrop would get no further, as Noblesville went on a 7-0 run to tie the game. Noah Harris made a pair of baskets, sandwiched between a 3 from David Lloyd. Khamani Smith scored five straight points for the Bruins, but the Millers reeled them in again, with another triple from Lloyd and a Harris putback.
“Noah Harris was amazing tonight,” said Peckinpaugh. “When he plays like that, we’re a different team. I didn’t come out and start him and he responded really, really well for the second time doing that this year. He continues to grow and as he grows, our team will grow.”
Qualen Pettus finished the half with two free throws for Northrop, which led 25-23 at the break. Pettus added two more to begin the second half; he would finish the game 16-of-16 from the line.
After that, the Millers took over with a 6-0 run to take a 29-27 lead; Smith made his fourth 3-pointer of the game during that run. Northrop was still tied with Noblesville at 31-31, but the Millers broke out of that with five straight points from Lloyd, and never trailed again.
“He played well last night against Zionsville,” Peckinpaugh said of Lloyd, who is coming off a broken leg.
“You could tell he’s just getting more comfortable playing basketball and now he’s starting to show it on the court,” said Peckinpaugh.
A 3 from Jordan Gadis finished the third quarter and put Noblesville up 41-35. Smith drained his fifth 3-pointer of the game and made a layin to get the Millers up 48-39. Noblesville finished it out from the line, making 9 of 10 free throws in the final two minutes, including all three of the Millers’ 1-and-1 opportunities.
“EJ has had a really good stretch here in these last two games,” said Peckinpaugh. “He’s one of those kids when he shoots it, you expect it to go in. He’s doing a great job of just learning our system, learning when to attack, when to run our offense.”
Smith scored 22 points for Noblesville, with Harris adding 14 and Lloyd scoring 12, including three 3s. Harris also collected six rebounds. Brendon Fisher handed out five assists, while Alex Hunt made three blocks.
The Millers improved to 7-8 with the victory and play their next game Friday at The Mill, hosting Franklin Central in a Hoosier Crossroads Conference game.
NOBLESVILLE 57, FORT WAYNE NORTHROP 45
Noblesville FG FT TP PF
Jordan Gadis 2-5 0-0 5 1
Brendon Fisher 0-1 0-0 0 0
EJ Smith 7-9 3-4 22 1
Alex Hunt 0-2 0-0 0 4
Preston Roberts 0-0 0-0 0 0
Noah Harris 5-8 4-5 14 2
Trenton Reed 1-1 0-1 2 3
Evan Wilson 0-1 2-2 2 1
David Lloyd 4-10 1-2 12 2
Totals 19-37 10-14 57 14
Score by Quarters
Northrop 16 9 10 10 – 45
Noblesville 11 12 18 16 – 57
Noblesville 3-point shooting (9-22) Smith 5-7, Lloyd 3-8, Gadis 1-2, Harris 0-2, Fisher 0-1, Wilson 0-1, Hunt 0-1.
Noblesville rebounds (18) Harris 6, Reed 4, Gadis 3, Smith 2, Wilson 2, Fisher 1.
Noblesville’s Noah Harris had 14 points and six rebounds in the Millers’ win over Fort Wayne Northrop Saturday night at The Mill. (Kent Graham)
Noblesville High School recognized its 25th and 50th anniversary teams during halftime of Saturday night’s boys basketball game. The 50th anniversary team was the last one coached by Glen Harper (far right), who won seven sectional and two regional titles during his tenure with the Millers, which lasted from 1957 to 1970. (Kent Graham)