By RICHIE HALL
NOBLESVILLE – Guerin Catholic rolled to its fourth consecutive victory Saturday afternoon, beating Noblesville 71-49 in an all-county game at the Eagles Nest.
The game was moved up a few hours to beat the impending snowstorm, but even that couldn’t slow down the Golden Eagles: They never trailed and outscored the Millers in each of the four periods.
“Noblesville’s a great team,” said Guerin Catholic coach Bobby Allen. “We knew we were going to have our work cut out for us tonight, but we had guys that were focused on our game plan.”
The tone was set early, with GC’s Will Grissom hitting a 3-pointer for the contest’s first basket. Guerin led 8-6 early in the first, with Preston Roberts and E.J. Smith each hitting triples for Noblesville, but the Golden Eagles then went on a 7-0 run. Matthew Gillis scored four points sandwiched between a 3-for-3 free-throw shooting sequence for Grissom.
Guerin Catholic had a 9-0 stretch that bridged the first and second quarters, with Grissom hitting another 3 to close the first period and Kaleb Edwards scoring four points, including a triple, to begin the second. That run put the Golden Eagles up 24-11.
A 3 from Aaron Fine and layin by Luke Almodovar cut GC’s lead back to eight, but the Golden Eagles answered with an 11-2 run to get them ahead 35-18. Gillis made back-to-back layins and Joseph Bobilya drained the first of his three 3-pointers. The Millers got the last basket of the half on a David Lloyd layin, but Guerin still lead 35-20 at halftime.
“They were really good,” said Noblesville coach John Peckinpaugh. “I got to do a better job getting these guys to share the ball a little bit better, buying into the defensive end of the court. Our coaching staff will pick it up here, try to get this thing going back in the right direction.”
Gillis scored four points to start the second half before the Millers made a quick 6-0 run. Noah Harris converted a three-point play and Smith made his second 3 of the game. The Golden Eagles were able to work their lead back up to 52-33 by the end of the quarter, with six different players scoring in the period.
“We shared the ball tonight,” said Allen. “Kaleb Edwards had eight assists. We had guys doing what they needed to do to make plays to win against a really good team. I am proud of the steps that we have made over the past couple of weeks to get to where we are now to beat a big-time program like Noblesville.”
Jack Parenteau scored the final basket of the third quarter, and that was the start of a 12-0 run for the Golden Eagles. Joseph Bobilya got hot in the fourth, scoring 11 points, including back-to-back 3s. His free throw with 4:32 left in the game gave GC its largest lead at 65-37.
Four Guerin Catholic players scored in double figures, led by Bobilya’s 19 points. Gillis scored 16, Grissom had 15 and Edwards added 11, in addition to five rebounds and his eight assists. Gillis also collected five rebounds while Matthew Etchison dished out four assists.
Harris scored 12 points for the Millers, with Fine adding 10 points. Harris pulled five rebounds.
“A week ago, we were probably playing our best basketball,” said Peckinpaugh. “This week, not so much. A wise man once told me ‘It’s never as good as you think it is, it’s never as bad as you think it is.’ We’ll figure it out, we’ll get back to work on Monday. Try to fix some issues and keep grinding away.”
The Golden Eagles are 11-2 and host Bishop Chatard Tuesday in a Circle City Conference game. Noblesville is 8-7 and hosts Mount Vernon next Saturday afternoon.
GUERIN CATHOLIC 71, NOBLESVILLE 49
Noblesville FG FT TP PF
Josh Durham 0-2 0-0 0 4
E.J. Smith 2-8 0-0 6 1
Noah Harris 2-7 8-9 12 2
Luke Almodovar 1-7 0-0 2 3
Preston Roberts 2-3 2-2 7 2
Aaron Fine 4-8 0-0 10 0
David Lloyd 2-6 3-3 7 1
Luke Wilson 0-0 0-0 0 1
Cooper Bean 2-3 0-0 5 1
Evan Wright 0-0 0-0 0 0
Totals 15-44 13-14 49 15
Noblesville 3-point shooting (6-25) Smith 2-6, Fine 2-4, Bean 1-2, Roberts 1-1, Almodovar 0-5, Lloyd 0-4, Harris 0-3.
Noblesville rebounds (16) Harris 5, Fine 4, Lloyd 4, Roberts 2, Almodovar 1.
Guerin Catholic FG FT TP PF
Joseph Bobilya 6-13 4-6 19 0
Kaleb Edwards 4-5 2-3 11 3
Will Grissom 4-7 5-5 15 3
Matthew Gillis 7-9 2-2 16 2
Jack Cherry 2-3 0-0 4 1
Matthew Etchison 0-0 2-2 2 3
Jack Parenteau 1-1 0-0 2 2
Spencer Wilt 1-1 0-0 2 0
Garrett Kreiner 0-0 0-0 0 0
Elijah Edwards 0-0 0-0 0 0
Patrick Baird 0-0 0-0 0 0
Totals 25-39 15-18 71 14
Guerin Catholic 3-point shooting (6-12) Bobilya 3-9, Grissom 2-2, K. Edwards 1-1.
Guerin Catholic rebounds (20) K. Edwards 5, Gillis 5, Cherry 4, Grissom 2, Bobilya 1, Parenteau 1, team 2.
Score by Quarters
Noblesville 11 9 15 14 – 49
Guerin Catholic 20 15 17 19 – 71