By RICHIE HALL
NOBLESVILLE – Going into the new season, Noblesville boys basketball coach Scott McClelland emphasized that his team needed to be “a lot tougher defensively” in order to have a good campaign this year.
The Millers got off to a good start when it came to that goal. Noblesville opened its season Saturday afternoon with a convincing 72-43 win over Columbus East at The Mill. The Millers got great production on offense, led by veterans Luke Almodovar and Aaron Fine, played solid defense throughout the game, and saw some good things from its younger players.
“I thought today at times we showed some flashes,” said McClelland, who began his second year as the Noblesville coach with this game. “We still got a long way to go with our defense. It’s a good first win. It’s a good first game.”
The Olympians only led once during the game, after they scored the first basket. Almodovar, a senior with a handful of college offers, hit a 3-pointer to put the Millers in the lead. They never looked back.
Columbus East stayed in the game for the first half of the first period, as it was still within 9-8 with under four minutes left. But Noblesville skipped off on a 14-0 run that took up the rest of the first quarter. The period ended with the Millers up 21-8; Almodovar started the run with a triple, then Fine, a junior, drained back-to-back 3s, followed by another basket for a personal 8-0 run.
Noblesville junior Aaron Fine scored 21 points. (Richie Hall)
Junior Will Smits opened the second quarter with a layin, and Noblesville led 23-8. The Olympians played a little more even with the Millers in that period, but baskets from Almodovar and Fine to finish the quarter gave Noblesville a 34-19 lead at halftime.
Those baskets turned out to be the start of another long run, a 21-0 stretch that took up the majority of the third quarter. Fine and Almodovar both scored five points, while senior Cooper Bean nailed a 3. Junior Hunter Walston added two free throws with 3:26 left in the quarter to give Noblesville a 51-19 advantage.
“We didn’t run a lot of offense today, and some of that had to do with the fact that we were just able to get out early and get some transition baskets,” said McClelland.
Almodovar had one more run, a personal 6-0 stretch to get the Millers ahead 62-27 late in the third quarter. Columbus East’s Ben Sylva hit a 3 for the last score of the period, which ended with Noblesville up 62-30. The Millers cruised through the fourth quarter, leading 71-31 with 3:10 left. Columbus East finished the game on a 12-1 run, but that was during the last two minutes of the game.
Almodovar led the way with 28 points, followed by Fine with 21 points. Both players made three 3-pointers. Freshman Justin Curry played well in his first-ever high school game, hitting two 3s during the second half. Nine different players scored for the Millers.
“I thought we shared the ball pretty well,” said McClelland.
Noblesville jumps right into Hoosier Crossroads Conference play on Friday, hosting Fishers at The Mill.
NOBLESVILLE 72, COLUMBUS EAST 43
Noblesville FG FT TP PF
Luke Almodovar 10 5-5 28 3
Hunter Walston 1 2-3 4 0
Aiden Brewer 2 0-0 4 0
Cooper Bean 1 0-0 3 5
Aaron Fine 9 0-0 21 1
Luke Etchison 0 2-4 2 2
Will Smits 1 0-0 2 3
TJ Davidson 0 2-2 2 0
Justin Curry 2 0-0 6 2
Ryan Tracy 0 0-0 0 0
Totals 26 11-14 72 16
Score by Quarters
Columbus East 8 11 11 13 – 43
Noblesville 21 13 28 10 – 72
Noblesville 3-pointers (9): Almodovar 3, Fine 3, Curry 2, Bean 1.