Millers & Eagles face off in tonight’s sectional title
By RICHIE HALL
CARMEL – After making a big comeback on Friday, the Noblesville boys basketball team will play for a sectional championship on Saturday.
The Millers were down 12 points in the third quarter against defending Sectional 8 champion Westfield in Friday’s first semi-final at the Eric Clark Activity Center. But Noblesville rallied with a big second half, and that got the Millers past the Shamrocks 47-45.
Noblesville will take on Zionsville in tonight’s title game, which tips off at 7 p.m. The Eagles also made a second-half comeback to beat Fishers 59-53 and advance to the final game.
Fine on the Line
The Millers (18-6) trailed Westfield for the first 28 minutes of the game. Not until Aaron Fine made a three-point play with 3:49 left in the fourth quarter did Noblesville hold a lead. Fine’s and-1 got the Millers ahead 41-40, and while they never trailed again, they had to fight off Westfield during those last few minutes.
Alex Romack tied the game at 41-41 with a free throw. Noblesville got the next two baskets, with Hunter Walston scoring on a putback, then Luke Almadovar made a layin to give the Millers a 45-41 lead.
The ‘Rocks came back again, with Durante Morton getting his own putback and Trey Buchanan hitting two foul shots. But Fine went to the line with 33.4 seconds left, and he drained two more free throws for the winning points. Almodovar made a steal during the closing seconds to seal the game.
Noblesville senior Luke Almodovar scored 19 points for the Millers. (Kent Graham)
Noblesville coach Scott McClelland said that during halftime, the message was “We’re not doing our job on the ball. We missed some bunnies. We didn’t have any transition baskets.” Another topic was character.
“They’re challenging your character,” said McClelland. “Who are you? I thought our kids really rose to the challenge.”
Westfield controlled the tempo of the first half, leading 11-4 after one quarter of play. Sam Bishop scored the game’s first points on a three-point play at the 6:18 mark, then was mostly responsible for a 6-0 run to put the ‘Rocks up 9-2, scoring four points on layins. Romack finished the quarter with a buzzer-beating layin.
Fine started the second quarter with the first of his two 3-pointers during the period, cutting the lead to 11-7. But Morton pushed the lead back up to 14-7 with a layin and a free throw seconds later. The Shamrocks were able to keep their lead between five and nine points for the remainder of the period and led 27-18 at halftime.
Another triple from Bishop gave Westfield a 30-18 lead to open up the third period. Almodovar made a layin, but Morton answered that with a layin, and the ‘Rocks were up by 12 again, 32-20.
The Millers took over after that, using a 13-2 run to lead 34-33. That stretch took up the remainder of the third period and included the first basket of the fourth quarter: Almodovar with another layin. Almodovar scored seven points of that run, with Cooper Bean hitting a 3, Aaron Fine making a floater and Aiden Brewer adding a free throw.
Noblesville was within 34-33 at that point. Bishop and Morton both scored to push Westfield ahead 38-33, but Almodovar tied the game with an and-1, then a dunk. Romack’s two free throws gave the Shamrocks a 40-38 lead, then Fine made his three-point play.
“Every possession matters in a game like that,” said McClelland. “Really proud of our kids and their resiliency to bounce back here in the second half.”
Young players, huge spark
Almodovar finished with 19 points and Fine scored 15. While both those players had great games, McClelland also gave credit to two young players who were competing in a sectional for the first time: Sophomore T.J. Davidson and freshman Justin Curry.
“I thought they were just outstanding, provided a huge spark,” said McClelland. “We had to change a little bit in our lineup, go a little bit smaller. I thought those two kids really came in and played with great energy, made some great hustle and defensive plays.”
Bishop scored 17 points for Westfield, which finished its season 16-8.
Westfield senior Sam Bishop had 17 points for the Shamrocks. (Kent Graham)
“We played a very good basketball game and I’m really proud of our guys,” said Shamrocks coach Shane Sumpter. “A lot of people had Westfield as a rebuild year, and we had other plans. We won 16 games and got to a sectional semi-final and had some great wins along the way.”
In the second game, Zionsville jumped out to a 12-6 lead in the first quarter. Logan Imes, the Eagles’ Penn State recruit, scored seven of those points. But the Tigers came back and grabbed the lead at the end of the period, as Jalen Haralson drained a 3 to give Fishers a 16-14 lead going into the second period. Haralson scored nine in the first quarter, while JonAnthony Hall added five points.
The Tigers stayed in front for the next two periods, leading 36-30 at halftime. Keenan Garner took over in the second quarter, nailing two triples and making an and-1 for 13 points in the period. Taden Metzger helped out with a 3-pointer.
Fishers junior Keenan Garner led the Tigers with 18 points in their game with Zionsville. (Kent Graham)
Fishers led by nine points on three different occasions, including a 46-37 advantage with 2:03 left in the third quarter, this after Garner drained two more free throws. But Imes went on a personal 12-0 run that lasted into the fourth quarter, turning that nine-point deficit into a 49-46 Eagles lead with 4:47 left in the game.
Aidan Zimmer tied the game with a 3-pointer, but a basket from Jackson Tielker gave Zionsville a 51-49 lead, and the Eagles never trailed again. Imes finished the game with two free throws with 14.5 seconds left; he led all scorers with 33 points.
“It’s one of those performances where you’re going to second-guess yourself constantly at what could we have done different to get the ball out of his hands,” said Fishers coach Garrett Winegar. “But at the same time he made a lot of really good plays.”
Garner scored 18 points for the Tigers, while Haralson added 17 points. Fishers finished its season 14-12.
“I think the last month of the season we really saw what the team could be,” said Winegar. The coach pointed out that the Tigers won six of their last eight regular-season games.
“You saw that toward the end of the year, the potential that this group has,” said Winegar. “And now it’s just about continuing to work and sticking together.”
NOBLESVILLE 47, WESTFIELD 45
Noblesville FG FT TP PF
Luke Almodovar 8 2-4 19 3
Aaron Fine 5 3-4 15 4
Cooper Bean 2 0-0 5 3
Aiden Brewer 0 1-2 1 1
Hunter Walston 3 0-0 7 3
Justin Curry 0 0-0 0 2
Steven Smits 0 0-0 0 0
T.J. Davidson 0 0-0 0 1
Totals 18 6-10 47 17
Noblesville 3-pointers (5) Fine 2, Almodovar, Bean, Walston.
Westfield FG FT TP PF
Trey Buchanan 1 5-6 7 0
Sam Bishop 7 1-1 17 2
Charles Farrell 0 0-0 0 4
Durante Morton 4 1-3 9 1
Alex Romack 1 4-6 6 4
Will Harvey 1 0-0 3 1
Seth LaRavia 1 0-0 3 2
Max McComb 0 0-0 0 0
Totals 15 11-16 45 14
Westfield 3-pointers (4) Bishop 2, Harvey, LaRavia.
Score by Quarters
Noblesville 4 14 13 16 – 47
Westfield 11 16 7 11 – 45
ZIONSVILLE 59, FISHERS 53
Fishers FG FT TP PF
Taden Metzger 1 0-0 3 1
Jalen Haralson 7 2-2 17 2
Aidan Zimmer 1 0-0 3 2
JonAnthony Hall 2 3-3 8 5
Keenan Garner 5 6-7 18 1
Millen McCartney 1 0-0 2 0
Parker Perdue 0 0-0 0 0
Grant Haworth 1 0-0 2 1
James Stasey 0 0-0 0 1
Justin Kirby 0 0-0 0 1
Totals 18 11-12 53 14
Score by Quarters
Zionsville 14 16 14 15 – 59
Fishers 16 20 10 7 – 53
Fishers 3-pointers (6) Garner 2, Metzger, Haralson, Zimmer, Hall.