By RICHIE HALL
NOBLESVILLE – The Noblesville boys basketball team finished as runner-up at its own Holiday Tournament on Wednesday.
The Millers made their way to the championship game, where they took on Lawrence Central. Whoever won the game would become the first two-time champion of the tournament. In the end, that honor went to the Bears, as they beat Noblesville 48-45 in a hard-fought, occasionally crazy title game at The Mill.
“LC’s playing very good basketball,” said Noblesville coach Scott McClelland. “I think they’ve really improved since the beginning of the season.”
The Millers led for most of the first half, save for the opening seconds. Lawrence Central scored the first basket of the game before layins by Aiden Brewer and Aaron Fine put Noblesville up 4-2.
Joshua Mickens tied the game with a pair of free throws, but Luke Almodovar was good on a three-point play, and the Millers were up 7-4. Noblesville steadily stretched its lead for the next several minutes, eventually leading 24-14 with two minutes left in the second quarter.
Fine was playing well during that stretch, pouring in 10 points, a total that included two 3-pointers in the second quarter. Cooper Bean helped out with an and-1 near the middle part of the period. The Bears made a comeback during the final two minutes of the half, but Noblesville still led 25-20 at halftime.
The Millers got back up 29-20 at the start of the third quarter, as Hunter Walston hit a pair of free throws and Almodovar made a dunk. But LC took control after that, outscoring Noblesville 13-2 over the remaining six minutes of the quarter to lead 33-31. DaJohn Craig, who would be named the Tournament MVP after the game, scored seven points in the third.
“We got out-toughed a little bit in the third quarter, so that was disappointing,” said McClelland.
The Bears stayed in front for the entire fourth quarter. A layin by Craig put them up 40-33, after which the Millers scored five quick points with a Fine layin and an Almodovar 3. Lawrence Central put up six fast points – three layins – to go up 46-38, then Bryson Luter’s layin gave the Bears their biggest lead at 48-38 with about a minute to go.
Noblesville finished the game on a wild 7-0 run. Fine and Bean made layins, then Walston scored off a quick steal, followed by a free throw. The Millers got the ball back with seconds left, but were unable to get a shot off before the buzzer.
McClelland said that missed layups were becoming a concern for the team – “several guys admitted to that in the locker room,” he said. Free throws also became an issue, as the Millers were 10-of-17 from the line.
“The missed layups and the missed free throws, it just gets magnified in a game like this,” said McClelland. “Then you got to take care of the ball. They sped us up, we didn’t run a lot of offense. They pressed us, and then went back to man. And instead of just having a little bit of poise and trying to run some offense, we were so quick to just put the ball on the floor.”
Fine finished the game with 17 points, while Almodovar added 10 points. Almodovar was named to the All-Tournament team after the championship game.
While the Millers (7-2) were disappointed, McClelland said that the game was “a loss in December in the whole scheme of things. I think you have to keep that in perspective,” he said.
Noblesville will get a chance to rebound from the loss on Tuesday, when the Millers play at Pike.
“So, let’s see how we respond to this kind of team,” said McClelland. “We’ve played nine games, and in those nine games, I think we’ve played so many different styles and found ways to win in so many different types of games.” The coach said those are things that will be “growing and learning experiences down the road.”
In their semi-final game, Noblesville used a big third quarter to beat Crown Point 61-44. The Bulldogs led the Millers 14-13 after the first quarter, then Noblesville edged ahead in the second period to take a 24-23 lead by halftime.
Noblesville’s bench applauds after Almodovar hits a 3-pointer during the Millers’ semi-final game with Crown Point. (Kent Graham)
The Millers blasted through the third period, outscoring Crown Point 26-10. Almodovar threw in three 3s for nine points, and Fine scored nine points in that quarter as well. That gave Noblesville a 50-33 lead, and the Millers kept their advantage around that margin in the fourth period.
Almodovar finished the game with 21 points and five triples. Fine scored 17 points and Walston added 10 points.
NOBLESVILLE 61, CROWN POINT 44
Noblesville FG FT TP PF
Luke Almodovar 8 0-1 21 2
Aaron Fine 8 0-0 17 3
Cooper Bean 1 0-0 2 2
Aiden Brewer 1 0-2 2 1
Hunter Walston 4 0-0 10 2
Luke Etchison 0 1-2 1 1
Preston Roberts 1 1-4 3 1
Justin Curry 1 0-0 5 2
TJ Davidson 0 0-1 0 0
Baron Walker 0 0-0 0 0
Will Smits 0 0-0 0 0
Max Miller 0 0-0 0 0
Ryan Victor 0 0-0 0 1
Totals 24 2-10 61 15
Score by Quarters
Crown Point 14 9 10 11 – 44
Noblesville 13 11 26 11 – 61
Noblesville 3-pointers (5) Almodovar 5, Walston 2, Fine, Curry.
LAWRENCE CENTRAL 48, NOBLESVILLE 45
Noblesville FG FT TP PF
Luke Almodovar 3 3-4 10 4
Aaron Fine 7 1-3 17 3
Cooper Bean 3 1-2 7 0
Aiden Brewer 1 1-2 3 2
Hunter Walston 1 4-6 6 2
Luke Etchison 0 0-0 0 2
Preston Roberts 1 0-0 2 1
Justin Curry 0 0-0 0 0
Totals 16 10-17 45 14
Score by Quarters
Lawrence Central 8 12 13 15 – 48
Noblesville 11 14 6 14 – 45
Noblesville 3-pointers (3) Fine 2, Almodovar.