It was an all Hamilton County final at the Bedford North Lawrence Tournament Saturday and the Class 4A No. 7 Fishers Tigers came away with a 47-37 win over the University Trailblazers.
Fishers remained perfect on the season at 11-0, while University sits at 8-3 after a 3-1 weekend in Bedford.
Jeffrey Simmons led the Tigers with 19 points. The 6-6 sophomore made 8 of 11 foul shots, including a 7 of 9 fourth-quarter performance at the charity stripe.
Max Greenamoyer led University with 15 points, including four 3-pointers. The 6-0 senior had 16 three pointers during the tournament.
The first quarter was a defensive slugfest, with a Bryce Williams 3-pointer at the buzzer giving Fishers a 7-5 lead. Tigers coach Matt Moore thought the low score was due to both teams guarding at a high level. He praised University, saying the ‘Blazers were “one of the better teams” on the Fishers schedule.
The Tigers jumped out to a 11-5 lead early in the second quarter before a Camden Brown basket and a pair of Greenamoyer 3-pointers gave University a 13-11 lead with 4:40 remaining in the half. That would turn out to be the last Trailblazers lead of the game. The Tigers scored the last seven points of the half and another buzzer beating 3-pointer, this one by Dominic Castellani gave Fishers a 22-15 halftime advantage. Simmons had six points in the quarter and Charlie Smith had four for the Tigers.
“We hit a shot at the end of the first quarter, hit a shot at the end of the half,” said Moore. “Both were 3s that gave us some separation.”
The third quarter again featured strong defensive efforts, with each team scoring only seven points. Joe Martin hit an early three pointer for University to cut the lead to 22-18 and Greenamoyer’s late three pulled the Blazers within 27-22, but five points from Simmons provided the offense for the Tigers 29-22 lead after three quarter.
Fishers looked poised to blow the game open early in the fourth quarter, scoring the first eight points for a 37-22 lead. University fought back with baskets from Greenamoyer, Martin and Sam Mervis and a three pointer from Brown to get within 39-31 with 90 seconds left. The Tigers made their foul shots down the stretch to hold off the Trailblazers.
In addition to Simmons’ 7 of 9 at the line, Smith and Justin Long were each two for two on foul shots as the Tigers made 11 of 13 fourth-quarter free throws. Moore said that in the second half, his team did a great job of “locking down and guarding one possession at a time.”
Simmons and Greenamoyer were named to the All-Tournament team selected by Bedford radio station WBIW. Completing the six-player All-Tournament team were Brayton Bailey of Bedford North Lawrence, Isaac Vencel of Bloomington North, Maximus Gizzi of New Palestine and Peyton Wert of Milan.
University coach Brandon Lafferman was excited with his team’s play at the tournament. “Congrats to Fishers and Coach Moore on a great tourney run and championship. They are really solid on both ends of the floor and made it tough on us all night.”
“I’m really proud of our boys and how they played in Bedford from the minute we arrived to the final second in the championship game against Fishers. We got great production from everyone who stepped on the floor and our team energy was outstanding. These Christmas tourney trips are priceless opportunities for team bonding and improvement and I’m thankful we got the invitation to play in Bedford this year. “
The Holiday tournament championship game appearance was the fourth in five seasons for University. The Trailblazers were champions in the Vincennes tournament in 2015 and 2018 and runner-up at Vincennes in 2017.
Fishers is next in action Friday, Jan. 3 when it travels to Columbus East. University is off until Jan. 7 when it travels to Traders Point Christian Academy.
EARLIER GAMES
Fishers reached the championship game with a 58-44 victory over Scottsburg.
The Tigers led 18-5 after the first quarter, with Castellani scoring eight of those points, including a pair of 3-pointers. Scottsburg cut Fishers’ lead to 27-18 by halftime, but the Tigers stayed in front 44-35 at the end of three. Simmons had seven points in that period.
Four Fishers players landed in double figures, with Simmons and Isaac Farah each scoring 12 points. Castellani and Smith both had 10 points.
University earned its way to the championship game with a 45-39 win over the host Bedford North Lawrence Stars.
Joe Martin and Max Greenamoyer again led the Trailblazers with 15 points each as University broke away from a 30-30 tie after three quarters to take top honors in Pool A.
Greenamoyer scored in the lane then fed Jacob Sager for a lay-in to put University in front to stay, before Trey Mollett’s 3-pointer pulled the Stars within 34-33. Martin scored two quick baskets for a 38-33 lead with 2:18 left. Korey Ash-Simpson had consecutive baskets for a 42-35 lead with 1:09 left.
The ‘Blazers missed the front end of three consecutive one-and-ones, but Ash-Simpson rebounded the third miss, leading to a pair of made free throws by Sam Mervis to put the game away.
The first quarter was a back-and-forth affair, with University holding a 12-7 lead on two 3-pointers from Greenamoyer, four points from Martin and a pair of Mervis foul shots, before the Stars scored the last seven points on the quarter to lead 14-12 after the first.
Two more Martin free throws and 3-pointers by Mervis and Greenamoyer got University to a 20-20 tie before baskets by Mervis and Martin put University up 24-20 at the half.
The Trailblazers threatened to blow the game open early in the third with 3-pointers from Martin and Greenamoyer put University up 30-22 at the 6:03 mark, however University did not score again in the period.
Mervis finished with nine points, Ash-Simpson had four points and Sager two to round out University’s scoring.
FISHERS 47, UNIVERSITY 37
Fishers FG FT TP PF
Dominic Castellani 1 0-0 3 2
Justin Long 2 4-4 8 1
Charlie Smith 3 2-2 8 2
Jeffrey Simmons 6 8-11 20 0
Isaac Farah 0 1-2 1 1
Drew Turner 2 0-0 4 2
Bryce Williams 1 0-0 3 0
Geoffrey Brown 0 0-0 0 0
Josh Forbes 0 0-0 0 0
Totals 15 15-19 47 8
Fishers 3-pointers (2) Castellani 1, Williams 1.
University FG FT TP PF
Sam Mervis 2 1-1 5 1
Max Greenamoyer 5 1-2 15 2
Camden Brown 3 0-2 7 3
Joe Martin 3 0-1 7 5
Korey Ash-Simpson 1 1-2 3 2
Larry Pierce 0 0-0 0 0
Jacob Sager 0 0-0 0 0
Aaron Stallings 0 0-0 0 0
Totals 14 3-8 37 13
University 3-pointers (6) Greenamoyer 4, Brown 1, Martin 1.
Score by Quarters
Fishers 7 15 7 18 – 47
University 5 10 7 15 – 37
FISHERS 58, SCOTTSBURG 44
Fishers FG FT TP PF
Dominic Castellani 4 0-0 10 1
Justin Long 3 2-2 8 0
Charlie Smith 4 2-2 10 0
Jeffrey Simmons 4 4-6 12 1
Isaac Farah 5 2-2 12 0
Drew Turner 0 0-0 0 1
Bryce Williams 2 2-2 6 3
Josh Forbes 0 0-0 0 0
Geoffrey Brown 0 0-0 0 3
Totals 22 12-14 58 9
Score by Quarters
Fishers 18 9 17 14 – 58
Scottsburg 5 13 17 9 – 44
Fishers 3-pointers (2) Castellani 2.
UNIVERSITY 45, BEDFORD NORTH LAWRENCE 39
University FG FT TP PF
Sam Mervis 2 4-5 9 0
Max Greenamoyer 5 1-2 15 2
Camden Brown 0 0-0 0 0
Joe Martin 5 4-5 15 2
Korey Ash-Simpson 2 0-0 4 3
Aaron Stallings 0 0-0 0 0
Jacob Sager 1 0-0 2 3
Larry Pierce 0 0-0 0 0
Totals 15 9-12 45 10
Score by Quarters
University 12 12 6 15 – 45
Bedford 14 6 10 9 – 39
University 3-pointers (6) Greenamoyer 4, Mervis 1, Martin 1.
The Fishers boys basketball team won the Bedford North Lawrence Tournament on Saturday. The Tigers beat University in the championship game and were 4-0 in the event, keeping their record perfect at 11-0. (Photo provided)