By RICHIE HALL
NOBLESVILLE – There are some nights when a basketball team can’t miss, and Noblesville’s boys had a night like that on Friday.
With a nice-sized crowd cheering them on, the Millers put together a great shooting performance during their all-county and Hoosier Crossroads Conference game with Hamilton Southeastern at The Mill. Noblesville beat the Royals 74-65, and are now sitting in a three-way tie for second place in the conference with a 3-2 record.
“All those HCC game are tough,” said Millers coach Scott McClelland. “There’s no easy ones.”
Southeastern got off to a good start, leading 6-2 within the first couple minutes of the game. Sam Jacobs, Donovan Hamilton and Reph Stevenson each scored baskets for the Royals.
Then Luke Almodovar took over. The junior made a 3-pointer and followed that with a layin to put Noblesville ahead 7-6. Jacobs answered that with a layin, but then the Millers went on a quick 8-0 run. E.J. Smith hit two 3s, with Aaron Fine making a layin in between. Noblesville led 15-8 and would not trail again.
The Millers were up 19-15 at the end of the first quarter. Noblesville slowly increased its lead throughout the second period; a basket from Cooper Bean and a 3 by Fine pushed the Millers ahead 29-19 late in the quarter. Later, Smith drained a long 3 to give Noblesville a 34-23 advantage.
Hamilton’s putback kept Southeastern within 34-25 at halftime. The second half began with five quick points from Bean, a triple and a basket off a steal, and the Millers were suddenly up 39-25.
“I thought we played better, certainly better than Tuesday night,” said McClelland. “I still think this group’s got plenty of room to grow.”
Two free throws by Tyler Lacy cut Noblesville’s lead to 43-35 with 3:53 left in the third, but the Millers went on a 9-0 spurt to reach their largest advantage of the game at 52-35. Fine and Smith made baskets, Almodovar was good on a three-point play, and Bean finished up the run with a dunk.
Southeastern kept battling, with Stevenson leading the charge in the fourth quarter. Noblesville led 54-42 going into the fourth, and was up 56-44 early on. Stevenson then went on a personal 7-0 run – a basket, an and-one and two free throws – to get the Royals within 56-51.
But the Millers again used a quick spurt to get out of trouble, this one a 10-2 run. Bean’s three-point play with 3:04 left gave Noblesville a 66-53 lead with 3:04 left, and the Millers were able to hang on.
“Tough game, but we had some different kids step up, make some shots,” said McClelland. “I thought we shared the ball a little bit better.”
Indeed. Four Noblesville players reached double figures, starting with Fine’s 23 points. Almodovar totaled 20 points, Smith made four 3s on his way to 16 points and Bean added 14 points. As a team, the Millers were 27-of-40 from the field, a blistering 67.5 percent.
“You got to give credit to Noblesville, they made some tough shots, some and-ones, they shot the ball really well.” said HSE coach John Ashworth.
Stevenson led all scorers with 27 points, and reached double-double status by collecting 11 rebounds. Jacobs added 17 points. Hamilton had five rebounds and five assists.
“Our kids got grit, they’ll fight, and hopefully we can get them to understand that winning is hard against the teams we play and the conference we play,” said Ashworth. The attention to detail, the decision-making, it’s got to be better.”
The Millers are 8-7 overall and host Guerin Catholic this afternoon. Southeastern is 2-3 in HCC play and 5-10 overall, and hosts Pendleton Heights tonight.
NOBLESVILLE 74, HAMILTON SOUTHEASTERN 65
Southeastern FG FT TP PF
Donovan Hamilton 3-7 2-3 9 4
Reph Stevenson 8-9 11-14 27 0
Caleb Smock 0-5 0-0 0 0
Deion Miles 0-1 0-0 0 4
Sam Jacobs 8-14 1-2 17 3
Kasey Ash-Simpson 2-3 0-0 4 1
Tyler Lacy 2-5 2-2 8 1
Michael Griffith 0-0 0-0 0 0
Joshua Jones 0-0 0-0 0 3
Alex Troutman 0-0 0-0 0 3
Totals 23-44 16-21 65 19
Southeastern 3-point shooting (3-17) Lacy 2-5, Hamilton 1-3, Smock 0-4, Jacobs 0-3, Stevenson 0-1, Miles 0-1.
Southeastern rebounds (20) Stevenson 11, Hamilton 5, Smock 1, Lacy 1, Jones 1, Troutman 1.
Noblesville FG FT TP PF
E.J. Smith 6-10 0-0 16 0
Luke Almodovar 6-8 7-9 20 1
Aaron Fine 9-10 4-7 23 2
Cooper Bean 6-10 1-1 14 2
Cameron Karns 0-0 0-0 0 1
Preston Roberts 0-1 0-0 0 3
Evan Wright 0-0 0-0 0 0
Hunter Walston 0-1 1-2 1 5
Totals 27-40 13-19 74 14
Noblesville 3-point shooting (7-13) Smith 4-5, Almodovar 1-3, Bean 1-2, Fine 1-1, Roberts 0-1, Walston 0-1.
Noblesville rebounds (20) Almodovar 3, Roberts 3, Wright 3, Smith 2, Fine 2, Bean 2, Walston 2, Karns 1, team 2.
Score by Quarters
Southeastern 15 10 17 23 – 65
Noblesville 19 15 20 20 – 74