By CRAIG ADKINS
For The Reporter
NOBLESVILLE – For a top three matchup between Noblesville and Westfield, the Millers and Shamrocks couldn’t have asked for a better environment in a sold-out Class 4A Sectional 8 semifinal game at The Mill.
A huge second-quarter surge was exactly what Noblesville needed as it made a statement in last night’s first semifinal with a dominating 71-43 home court win.
As is the rivalry, the first quarter was a quick back-and-forth before Westfield had two different five-point leads. Noblesville would then go on a 7-3 run to end the first, trailing 16-15.
“We played really, really well in the second quarter, allowing us to get a lead and kind of gain a lot of momentum,” Noblesville head coach Scott McClelland said.
The Millers played a pretty flawless second quarter and seemed to leave the ‘Rocks stymied heading into halftime.
After trailing late in the first 16-13, Noblesville scored 24 unanswered points. Before Westfield knew it, the Millers had built a 37-16 lead.
That lead would swell to 41-19 at halftime, leaving Westfield stunned through two quarters.
“We just never could recover from that second quarter. Give Noblesville credit. They’re a very good basketball team. Obviously a very tough sectional. It’s a shame only one of us gets out of here,” stated Westfield head coach Shane Sumpter.
“I think once we started getting rolling, we just kept putting pressure on them,” stated Noblesville senior guard Aaron Fine. “We have to dominate in practice against our JV. We have to get scores, stops, scores, stops. That’s just what we did. We executed in the game and that’s why we were able to do that,” continued Fine.
Noblesville kept the momentum once they grabbed the lead early in the second and didn’t let up. Their lead stayed at just about the same length for most of the third and held to a 55-32 lead after three.
“We’re just trying to chip away and our goal was to try to get it to under 10 going into the fourth quarter,” said Sumpter. “We made a couple of runs, but we just couldn’t get over that hump. Obviously, the second quarter makes a difference. They made a lot of shots and we made a lot of defensive errors,” continued Sumpter.
Westfield got frazzled with Noblesville’s defense creating havoc, which resulted in the Shamrocks just not being able to get into a normal rhythm offensively. Multiple turnovers turned into baskets in transition for the Millers, widening the gap even more.
Defensive pressure forced the ‘Rocks to take shots they wouldn’t normally take, allowing the Millers to crash the boards to stay in control of the game.
“We got multiple contributions, too. Hunter (Walston) was outstanding tonight. I thought Will Smits gave us great minutes. I thought Aaron (Fine) played a really good floor game. Justin (Curry) came up with a couple of big steals, got a dunk, got the crowd going into it,” stated McClelland on key contributors.
There wasn’t any let up in the fourth by the Millers. Noblesville outscored Westfield 16-11 to win in convincing fashion, 71-43.
Charles Farrell led the Shamrocks with a team-high 16 and was joined in double-figures by Will Harvey (11). Trey Buchanan added nine.
Westfield ends a great season at 19-3.
Hunter Walston led all with a game-high 22 points. Walston also grabbed seven rebounds and blocked five shots. Fine wound up with 18 and Justin Curry 11 to round out the double-digit scorers for Noblesville. Will Smits chipped in with eight points and four blocks himself. TJ Davidson had six and Baron Walker four.
No. 2 Noblesville (22-2) advances to tonight’s sectional championship game against top-ranked Fishers (24-1) at 7 p.m.
NOBLESVILLE 71, WESTFIELD 43
Westfield FG FT TP PF
Trey Buchanan 2 3-6 9 3
Will Harvey 3 4-4 11 0
Charles Farrell 6 2-5 16 3
Durante Morton 1 0-0 2 1
Nic Book 1 0-0 2 4
Drew Haffner 1 0-0 3 1
Caleb Wise 0 0-0 0 0
Carsen Melvin 0 0-0 0 0
Rylan Rauch 0 0-0 0 0
Brock Detamore 0 0-0 0 0
Ryan Hunsucker 0 0-0 0 0
Totals 14 9-15 43 12
Westfield 3-pointers (6) Buchanan 2, Farrell 2, Harvey, Haffner.
Noblesville FG FT TP PF
Hunter Walston 9 3-3 22 3
Justin Curry 5 0-0 11 0
Aiden Brewer 1 0-0 2 1
Baron Walker 1 1-2 4 4
Aaron Fine 7 3-3 18 2
TJ Davidson 2 1-2 6 2
Will Smits 4 0-0 8 3
Ryan Vetor 0 0-0 0 1
Adam Fine 0 0-0 0 0
Max Miller 0 0-0 0 0
Luke Davis 0 0-0 0 0
Totals 29 8-10 71 16
Noblesville 3-pointers (5) Walston, Curry, Walker, Aa. Fine, Davidson.
Score by Quarters
Westfield 16 3 13 11 – 43
Noblesville 15 26 14 16 – 71