The period between Christmas and New Year’s Day is a time to relax – unless you’re a basketball player.
Several Hamilton County teams will be participating in tournaments over the next three days, so there will be a ton of hoops action in a short amount of time. While most of the events are out of town, there are a couple of nearby tournaments that basketball fans can enjoy.
In fact, there’s one right in the middle of the county: The annual Noblesville Holiday Tournament. The Miller boys team will host seven other teams at The Mill in this event, which begins today. The first-round schedule is as follows:
Game 1: Andrean vs. Columbus North, 10 a.m.
Game 2: Northridge vs. Noblesville, noon
Game 3: New Albany vs. Crown Point, 2 p.m.
Game 4: Lawrence Central vs. Chesterton, 4 p.m.
The Millers, at 4-4, will take on a Raiders team that is 4-3. Northridge has wins over Elkhart Central 73-57, East Noble 52-47, Goshen 49-42 and South Bend Washington 60-59, in overtime. The Raiders have lost to Westview 60-45, Class 4A No. 7 South Bend Riley 76-66 and Angola 50-37.
Noblesville’s wins have come over Shortridge 60-46, Anderson 73-66, Hamilton Heights 62-50 and Taylor 65-37. The Millers have losses to Fishers 54-36, 4A No. 2 Carmel 45-40, Westfield 51-38 and Pike 62-48.
Meanwhile, there will be some good matchups among the other teams. Andrean will come into The Mill at 3-3, with Columbus North 5-3. New Albany is 4-2 and Crown Point is 5-1, while 4A No. 4 Chesterton, perfect at 7-0, will take on a 5-2 Lawrence Central team.
Once the first round games are complete, the losing teams will play consolation games at 6 and 8 p.m. to determine who plays for fifth and seventh places. On Friday morning, the semi-finals will be played, with games at 10 a.m. and noon.
The placement games start at 2 p.m. with the seventh-place contest, followed by fifth place at 4 p.m., third place at 6 p.m. and the championship at 8 p.m.
As for other Thursday games, the Fishers boys team will play at the Lebanon Tournament, not too far of a drive for Tigers fans. Fishers takes on Gary 21st Century at 11:30 a.m., after Herron plays Kokomo in the 10 a.m. game. In the evening session, Marquette Catholic will play Perry Meridian at 6 p.m., followed by Lebanon and Greenfield-Central battling it out at 7:30 p.m.
Semi-final and consolation games take place on Friday morning, with the placement games beginning at 4 p.m.
Meanwhile, University’s 1A No. 3-ranked girls team travels to Monrovia for the Bulldog Holiday Tournament. The Trailblazers play Traders Point Christian at 2 p.m., after Monrovia takes on South Putnam at noon. The third-place game is at 5 p.m., with the championship game set for 7 p.m.
WEEKEND GAMES
On Friday, the Guerin Catholic and University boys teams will make their annual trip to Vincennes to play in the McDonald’s Hoosier Hysteria Tournament.
The teams are on opposite ends of the draw, so they wouldn’t see each other until Saturday action. But first things first: The Golden Eagles play Evansville Day at 4 p.m., with the Trailblazers facing off against Borden at 7 p.m. In between, Central Christian takes on Evansville Harrison at 5:30 p.m., while Milan plays host Vincennes Lincoln at 8:30 p.m. Consolation and placement games are set for Saturday.
Four girls teams will be participating in tournaments. A nearby tournament is the North Central Classic, which is where Hamilton Southeastern’s 4A No. 2 Royals will play.
Southeastern will take on New Albany at 2 p.m. Friday, this after the 4A No. 5 Panthers play Springboro, Ohio. On Saturday, New Albany plays Springboro at 10 a.m., followed by what will be a marquee matchup between HSE and North Central at noon.
Noblesville will play in the New Palestine Holiday Tournament, taking on Southport at noon. That follows a game between the host Dragons and Greensburg. The third-place game is set for 2 p.m., with the championship at 4 p.m.
Fishers will travel to East Central for the St. Leon Skyline Chili & Haag Ford East Central Holiday Tournament. St. Leon is the small town in which East Central is located, about a half-hour northwest of Cincinnati. Haag Ford is a car dealership in nearby Lawrenceburg and Skyline Chili needs no explanation.
The Tigers will play North Harrison in their first game, which tips off at 2 p.m. Other games are Shelbyville vs. East Central, Monroe Central vs. Seymour and Salem vs. Dixie Heights, Ky. Consolation games take place at 5:30 p.m. that day, with the semi-final and placement games on Saturday.
Guerin Catholic will head north to Tipton for the Lady Devils Holiday Tournament. The Golden Eagles will play two games as part of Pool 1, facing Jennings County at 11 a.m. and Tri-Central at 2:30 p.m.
Other games on the schedule are Richmond-Tipton at 12:45 p.m., Richmond-Reavis, Ill. at 4 p.m., Jennings County-Tri-Central at 5:45 p.m. and Reavis-Tipton, 7:30 p.m. Placement games begin on Saturday afternoon.
ROYAL ROAD TRIP
Hamilton Southeastern’s boys team will play in the West Kentucky HOOPS Classic, which takes place today and Friday at Caldwell County High School. The school is in Princeton, Ky., about an hour and 20 minutes southwest of Evansville.
The Royals take on Center Hill High School out of Olive Branch, Miss. (about a half hour south of Memphis) at 6:30 p.m. tonight. Southeastern then faces the Webb School, a private school located in Bell Buckle, Tenn. (about an hour southeast of Nashville) at 5 p.m. Friday.
Much closer to home, Sheridan’s girls are scheduled to play back-to-back home games on Thursday against Lapel and on Friday against Tri. The Sheridan boys team will play at Lapel on Friday.
Carmel’s girls team will travel to Penn on Saturday for an afternoon game. The Greyhounds were to host Kokomo tonight, but the game was canceled after the explosion at the high school, as was this afternoon’s boys game against Anderson.
Noblesville’s Zack Johnson is averaging 16 points per game for the Millers so far this season. Noblesville will host its annual Holiday Tournament, with games starting this morning and running through the championship on Friday night. (Kent Graham)