By RICHIE HALL
WESTFIELD – It had been a while since both the Westfield and the Noblesville boys basketball teams had played games this season.
The Millers had been off for two weeks, while the Class 4A No. 5 Shamrocks hadn’t played since Dec. 22. The two teams met at The Rock Saturday evening, where Westfield pulled away in the third quarter to win 58-42. The ‘Rocks are still unbeaten at 7-0.
Westfield never trailed in the game, and the score was only tied once, early in the first period. A three-point play by the Shamrocks’ Nic Depasquale was answered by a 3-point basket from the Millers’ E.J. Smith.
But Westfield took off on a 6-0 run to lead 9-3 and stayed in front for good after that. Cam Haffner made back-to-back baskets, and Benji Welch scored on a floater. Later, Braden Smith nailed back-to-back 3s. Noblesville’s Noah Harris made his own triple to keep the Millers within 18-10 at the end of one.
Noblesville used an 8-0 stretch early in the second quarter to get within 20-18. E.J. Smith hit a pair of free throws, then Josh Durham and Luke Almodovar drained triples. Another 3, this one from Aaron Fine, kept the Millers within 25-21 late in the period.
Westfield took over after that, starting with an 8-0 run – four points in the second quarter, four more in the third. Depasquale scored all four points of the third-quarter portion of the run. That put the ‘Rocks up 33-21, and they kept their lead in double digits for the duration of the game.
“We were fortunate to be able to get ourselves a little bit of a lead and be in control most of the second half,” said Westfield coach Shane Sumpter. “For that first quarter and a half to two quarters, you felt like that typical Noblesville-Westfield game where it’s just, every possession’s a grind. We were fortunate in that early in the second half, to be able to widen that a little bit where at least we were in control.”
The Shamrocks continued to roll in the third quarter, with two more 3s from Braden Smith and another triple from Luke Naas. Westfield led 42-27 after three, then spent the fourth quarter comfortable in front, with its lead ranging from 15 to 19 points.
Braden Smith led all scorers with 23 points, followed by Depasquale, who had 12 points and five rebounds. Smith handed out four assists and Matthew Penley made two blocks. Eight different Shamrocks players scored at least one point.
“I feel like we’re a balanced basketball team for sure,” said Sumpter. “I think that we get a lot of contributions from a lot of guys. A conference game is always tough. I have a lot of respect for Noblesville and their coaches. They do a tremendous job and that’s a good basketball team. I know they haven’t played in a little while. That’s a dangerous, dangerous, well-coached basketball team that we played tonight.”
The Millers, now 3-3, were balanced as well. Durham scored eight points, while E.J. Smith, Harris and Fine all added seven points. Harris and David Lloyd both collected five rebounds.
“They’re a really good team,” said Noblesville coach John Peckinpaugh. “We’ve been off for 14 days, we had four days of practice this week. They’re a hard team to prepare for when you have to get back in shape and prepare for all their actions and all their players. We put in a little 3-2 matchup shifting-rotating zone. We had some good possessions early on. The problem is when you zone a team like that and they have so many weapons around the perimeter, it makes it tough. I like the way our team fought. Young group, we just got to keep getting better and I think we will.”
Both teams are back in action on Tuesday. Westfield will play at Mount Vernon, while the Millers host Pike.
WESTFIELD 58, NOBLESVILLE 42
Noblesville FG FT TP PF
Josh Durham 3-4 0-0 8 4
E.J. Smith 1-11 4-4 7 3
Noah Harris 3-6 0-0 7 2
Luke Almodovar 1-5 2-4 5 0
Preston Roberts 2-2 2-4 6 3
Aaron Fine 2-4 1-3 7 2
David Lloyd 1-5 0-0 2 2
Luke Wilson 0-0 0-0 0 0
Totals 13-37 9-15 42 16
Noblesville 3-point shooting (7-21) Fine 2-4, Durham 2-3, Smith 1-6, Almodovar 1-3, Harris 1-2, Lloyd 0-3.
Noblesville rebounds (23) Harris 5, Lloyd 5, Almodovar 4, Roberts 4, Durham 3, Fine 1, Smith 1.
Westfield FG FT TP PF
Braden Smith 7-12 3-4 23 0
Cam Haffner 3-12 0-1 7 3
Benji Welch 2-4 2-2 6 5
Nic Depasquale 3-10 6-7 12 1
Matthew Penley 2-3 0-0 4 2
Luke Van Dyke 1-2 0-0 2 1
Kai Butterworth 0-1 1-2 1 1
Luke Naas 1-5 0-0 3 0
Trey Dorton 0-0 0-0 0 0
Totals 19-49 12-16 58 13
Westfield 3-point shooting (8-27) Smith 6-9, Haffner 1-9, Naas 1-5, Welch 0-2, Depasquale 0-1, Butterworth 0-1.
Westfield rebounds (24) Depasquale 5, Penley 4, Smith 3, Welch 3, Haffner 3, Butterworth 3, Van Dyke 2, Naas 1.
Score by Quarters
Noblesville 10 11 6 15 – 42
Westfield 18 11 13 16 – 58