Four county players named boys Junior All-Stars

Noblesville’s McClelland named head coach

The REPORTER

Four Hamilton County boys basketball stars are among the 18 players that have been selected to the IndyStar Indiana boys’ Junior All-Stars for 2026, All-Stars games director Mike Broughton announced Wednesday.

Two Fishers players will be a part of the six-player Core Group: Jason Gardner Jr. and Cooper Zachary. The two Tigers will join Harper Baker-Lands of Plainfield, Isaiah Hill of Pike, Jahari Miller of Pike and Max Vise of Mt. Vernon.

In addition to the Core Group, six players each were chosen for squads labeled Red Group and Blue Group.

Guerin Catholic’s Jake Grissom will play on the Red Group, joining Devin Bolden of Cardinal Ritter, Duncan Combs of Bloomington South, Derrick Cross Jr. of Bloomington North, Hunter of Silver Creek and Tyler Renn of Terre Haute North.

Carmel’s Cash Daniels will be a part of the Blue Group, joining Brody Baker of Harrison, Elijah King of South Bend Saint Joseph, Da’Kori Parker of South Bend Riley, Austin Schlabach of Westview and Mack Welker of Homestead.

Scott McClelland of Noblesville will be the head coach, and Heath Howington of Class A state champion Barr-Reeve will be the assistant coach.

McClelland has an 86-38 record with one sectional title in five seasons at Noblesville, including a 13-11 mark this past season. He is 332-207 in 23 seasons overall as a boys’ varsity coach. That includes a 73-78 record in seven seasons at Morristown, a 25-16 mark in two seasons at Brebeuf Jesuit, a 31-35 ledger in three seasons at Western Boone and a 117-40 slate in six seasons in a second tenure at Morristown. His Morristown team was the 2018 Class A state champion, and his Yellow Jackets won additional sectionals in 2007 and 2019. He was an IBCA District 3 Coach of the Year in 2018 and was a 2018 Junior All-Star assistant coach.

A 1993 graduate of Yorktown High School, McClelland played basketball and football. He played basketball for one season at Ancilla College, then completed his education at Ball State, earning a bachelor’s degree in 1998. He began coaching as a Yorktown girls’ basketball assistant from 1995-98. He went 11-11 as the Wapahani girls’ head coach in 1998-99, then was a boys’ assistant for one season each at Blue River Valley, Indianapolis Cathedral and Indianapolis Scecina before being named boys’ head coach at Morristown in 2003-04.

The Junior All-Stars will play one game against the Kentucky Junior All-Stars on Sunday, May 31 at Charlestown High School. The Junior All-Stars also will play one game against the Indiana All-Star senior boys on Wednesday, June 3 at Mt. Vernon High School. Both games will be doubleheaders with the 2025 Indiana girls’ Junior All-Stars, whose roster was announced on March 9.

The players listed as Core Group players each will play in two games. The players listed in the Red and Blue groups each will play in one game, the Red Group on May 31 against the Kentucky Juniors and the Blue Group on June 3 against the Indiana Seniors.

The Indiana senior All-Stars will play the Kentucky senior All-Stars on June 5 at Lexington Catholic High School. The Indiana senior All-Stars will play Kentucky’s seniors again on June 6 at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. The roster for the Senior girls was announced March 18. The roster for the Senior boys will be announced later.

The fourth annual IndyStar Indiana All-Star “Futures Games” doubleheader will be played on June 1 at a site to be announced. The Futures Games will be a girls-boys doubleheader with Indiana-only squads of sophomores and freshmen in a North vs. South format. The girls’ Futures Game rosters were announced on March 26. The boys’ Futures Game rosters will be announced later.

The 2026 Indiana boys’ Junior All-Star team was selected through a process that allows all IBCA-member head coaches to nominate players through the IBCA all-state process. The 22-member Indiana Basketball Coaches Association all-state committee reviewed and voted on players for the 2026 IBCA boys’ All-State teams that were released on March 25.