By RICHIE HALL
CARMEL – Basketball fans found some familiar and welcome sights at Carmel’s Eric Clark Activity Center Tuesday night as play began in the Class 4A Sectional 8 tournament.
There was a nice-sized crowd. Student sections were back. And the games were exciting, too. The first contest saw Hamilton Southeastern tough out a 44-40 victory over rival Fishers. In the second game, Westfield put on a blistering long-range shooting performance to beat Zionsville 61-47. Both teams advanced to the Friday semi-finals, where the Royals will play host Carmel and the Shamrocks will take on Noblesville.
WORKING FOR IT
Southeastern led for most of the opening game, but the Tigers made their district-mates work for it. The two teams traded the lead four times during the first quarter, which began with baskets by the Royals’ Dalton Retzner and Vinny Buccilla for a 4-0 advantage.
“We talked about two things,” said Southeastern coach Brian Satterfield. “One was getting off to a great start and I thought we did that, just being locked in. At the defensive end, I thought we did a pretty good job of that for the most part tonight.”
Jeffrey Simmons got Fishers on the board with a 3-pointer, then Myles Stringer’s rebound basket put the Tigers in front 5-4. The back-and-forth continued for the entire quarter: Southeastern scored four straight points, including a 3 by Isaac Bowman, and Fishers answered that with four consecutive points; Bryce Williams’ layin put the Tigers ahead 9-8.
Matt Brewer’s two free throws gave the Tigers an 11-9 lead with 54.6 seconds left in the period. But the Royals would begin a 7-0 run that stretched into the second quarter. The first period finished with a basket by Loudon Sundling to tie the game, then John McCall’s free throw finished the quarter. Southeastern led 12-11 and would never trail again.
Sam Jacobs started the second quarter by scoring four consecutive points. Later, the Royals’ Dalton Retzner made a layin to give HSE its biggest lead of the game at 21-14, then a Jacobs basket put Southeastern ahead 23-16.
The first half finished with two free throws by Charlie Smith, getting the Tigers within 24-20 at the break. The two teams traded baskets for the first part of the quarter, with a McCall floater giving the Royals a 30-24 lead. Simmons and Smith made layins to cut the lead to 30-28, which Retzner answered with two free throws. A Williams basket was the last score of the period, which finished with Southeastern up 32-30.
Williams scored again to open the fourth quarter, and the score was now tied at 32-32. Buccilla got the Royals back in front with a floater, and the Royals would stay in the lead until the final buzzer. Fishers got within 36-35 during the middle part of the period, but a 6-0 run put the Royals up 42-35, matching their largest lead of the game. McCall made two baskets and Buccilla hit a layin.
“We’ve got guys that have been in there and put in all the time and the effort,” said Satterfield. “It’s a special group and the season’s been a little up and down with a lot of things that have gone on. We were able to find a way tonight.”
The Tigers made one last push, getting to within 42-40 with 7.5 seconds remaining. But Fishers had to foul, and Alex Totton clinched the game by making two free throws.
Retzner finished the game with 13 points, while Buccilla and McCall both scored 10. Retzner and McCall both collected five rebounds. The Royals, now 12-10 for the season, assisted 14 of their 15 baskets, with Buccilla dishing out five and McCall handing out four.
Williams led the Tigers with 12 points, followed by Simmons with 11 and Smith with 10. Smith also had six rebounds and five steals, while Simmons pulled five rebounds.
Fishers finished its regular season 14-6. The Tigers were relatively young, with two returning starters and a handful of players with varsity experience, and had to learn a new system without the benefit of summer practices. First-year coach Garrett Winegar said he thought “this group was really resilient in what we were able to do.
“We ended the regular season 14-6 and had a really nice run there, winning 10 of our last 12 games after being quarantined twice,” said Winegar. “I’m proud of those guys for how they worked and how we defended. I think we defended well most of the season. Just got to find a way to score a little more.”
THIRTEEN 3-POINTERS
After an early series of basket-trading, Westfield pulled away from Zionsville thanks to an incredible shooting performance that resulted in 13 3-pointers for the Shamrocks.
The Eagles led 5-4 in the first quarter before Westfield finished the period on a 13-2 run. Cam Haffner made the Shamrocks’ first two triples, and just like that Westfield led 10-5. Braden Smith added five points, including his own 3, and Luke Van Dyke made a layin to give the ‘Rocks a 17-7 lead after one.
Westfield continued to roll in the second period, pouring in another 17 points to take a 34-19 lead. Smith threw in two more 3s during the early part of the quarter. Zionsville got within 28-19 midway through, but the Shamrocks finished the half with back-to-back 3s from Nic Depasquale and Benji Welch.
The Eagles came out on a rampage to begin the third quarter, going on a quick 7-0 run that led Westfield to call a timeout. When play resumed, Haffner threw in his third 3-pointer of the game. The junior was hot in the period, making two more 3s.
“I thought that was a key moment in the game was, how were we going to respond to that,” said ‘Rocks coach Shane Sumpter. “And we sure did.”
Smith scored the final points of the quarter by making two free throws, giving the Shamrocks a 48-33 lead. Those foul shots were the start of a 13-0 run by Westfield that stretched well into the fourth quarter. Smith scored 10 of those points, including two triples. The other three were scored by Haffner, who nailed his sixth 3-pointer of the game.
When the dust settled, the ‘Rocks led 59-33 with 4:47 left in the game. Zionsville went on a 14-0 run, draining four straight 3s, but Westfield had too big a lead to make up. Alex Romack gave the Shamrocks the last word, hitting a layin with 19.4 seconds to go.
“Really proud of our effort today, and our defensive effort was really good with Zionsville,” said Sumpter. The coach complimented the Eagles as “a good team,” noting their two star sophomores: Logan Imes led Zionsville with 14 points and Nicholas Richart added six points.
“I got a lot of respect for them,” said Sumpter.
Smith finished the game with 23 points, including five 3-pointers. Haffner’s six 3s equaled 18 points, while Depasquale added 10 points. Haffner led the rebounds with seven. Smith dished out eight assists, with Welch handing out four.
Westfield improved to 17-4 after the victory, while Zionsville finished its season 14-8.
HAMILTON SOUTHEASTERN 44, FISHERS 40
Fishers FG FT TP PF
Myles Stringer 1-1 0-1 2 2
Bryce Williams 5-11 2-2 12 2
Charlie Smith 3-11 4-4 10 3
Jeffrey Simmons 3-10 4-6 11 3
Lucas Prewitt 0-4 1-2 1 3
Sean Millsaps 0-0 1-2 1 0
Drew Turner 0-1 0-0 0 1
Matt Brewer 0-0 3-4 3 4
Aidan Zimmer 0-0 0-0 0 1
Totals 12-38 15-21 40 19
Fishers 3-point shooting (1-15) Simmons 1-4, Prewitt 0-4, Williams 0-3, Smith 0-3, Turner 0-1.
Fishers rebounds (22) Smith 6, Simmons 5, Brewer 4, Stringer 2, Williams 2, team 3.
Southeastern FG FT TP PF
Alex Totton 0-1 2-4 2 1
Dalton Retzner 4-7 5-6 13 2
Vinny Buccilla 4-6 2-4 10 2
Sam Jacobs 1-3 2-2 4 2
John McCall 4-7 2-5 10 5
Loudon Sundling 1-2 0-0 2 1
Jason Stutz 0-1 0-0 0 2
Isaac Bowman 1-2 0-0 3 1
Mohammed Awad 0-0 0-0 0 1
Totals 15-29 13-21 44 17
Southeastern 3-point shooting (1-3) Bowman 1-1, Stutz 0-1, Buccilla 0-1.
Southeastern rebounds (25) Retzner 5, McCall 5, Totton 4, Buccilla 4, Sundling 2, Stutz 1, Bowman 1, Jacobs 1, team 2.
Score by Quarters
Fishers 11 9 10 10 – 40
Southeastern 12 12 8 12 – 44
WESTFIELD 61, ZIONSVILLE 47
Westfield FG FT TP PF
Braden Smith 8-15 2-2 23 1
Benji Welch 1-2 1-2 4 3
Matthew Penley 1-2 0-0 2 3
Cam Haffner 6-8 0-0 18 2
Nic Depasquale 3-3 3-4 10 0
Luke Van Dyke 1-2 0-0 2 0
Luke Naas 0-1 0-0 0 1
Trey Dorton 0-0 0-0 0 0
Kai Butterworth 0-0 0-0 0 0
Alex Romack 1-1 0-1 2 0
Sam Bishop 0-0 0-0 0 0
Totals 21-34 6-9 61 10
Score by Quarters
Westfield 17 17 14 13 – 61
Zionsville 7 12 14 14 – 47
Westfield 3-point shooting (13-22) Haffner 6-7, Smith 5-10, Welch 1-2, Depasquale 1-1, Naas 0-1, Penley 0-1.
Westfield rebounds (21) Haffner 7, Van Dyke 4, Smith 3, Welch 2, Penley 2, Depasquale 2, Dorton 1.