Fine on Almodovar: “He’s a great shooter . . . if I find him, it’s going in”
By RICHARD TORRES
For The Reporter
NOBLESVILLE – A week removed from officially announcing his commitment to the University of Saint Francis, Noblesville’s Luke Almodovar isn’t taking the rest of his senior season off.
Not even close.
In fact, he’s revving up his game to entirely different level, and it showed inside The Mill last Saturday night against the visiting Class 3A Hamilton Heights Huskies (4-10).
Almodovar came out firing during the Millers’ third back-to-back weekend of the season, converting his first five field goal attempts to post a perfect shooting first half.
Two of Almodovar’s first five buckets came off alley-oop passes from junior Aaron Fine for baseline dunks, as the duo powered the 4A Millers (11-4) to a weekend sweep and a decisive 75-47 victory.
Almodovar finished with a game-high 22 points on 8 of 11 shooting and nine rebounds, while Fine had 19 points and seven assists to lock down the Millers’ fourth win in five games.
“It’s a good feeling to know that you’re set for your college career. It’s the best feeling,” Almodovar said. “But I have to just keep coming after this season and finish it strong for my teammates and my coaches here because I don’t want to leave this place. I love this place. I’m going to miss it.”
For now, Almodovar is making memories with memorable performances, including a nine-point first quarter that fueled a 16-5 Noblesville’s run. The rally pushed the Millers’ margin to double figures by the 3 minute, 3 second mark of the opening frame and grew to 20 points by the end of the third.
Fine broke down the Huskies’ defense throughout the first half, posting five assists in the initial quarter. He shot 7 of 11 from the field and was 4 of 5 from the foul line in the game.
“Aaron probably had his best game I’ve watched in the three years he’s been here. He made the right play almost every single time down the court. I really enjoy it when he’s looking to make plays,” Almodovar said. “He’s really good when he does that. He’s a really good player.”
Fine’s only 3-pointer dropped through the basket with 59 seconds left in the first quarter to put Noblesville up 20-7 before he found a cutting Luke Etchison 50 ticks later for a layup and a 22-10 advantage entering the second.
“In the first quarter, I threw it up to (Luke) twice, and he made it easy for me. In practice, they’ve been trying to get me to dish it and score it because obviously, I can,” Fine said. “Practice this week really helped me a lot.”
Having scorers like Almodovar, Cooper Bean (12 points, six rebounds), Preston Roberts (five points, four rebounds) and Hunter Watson (five points) gave Fine ample opportunities to conduct the offense.
A pair of passes to Bean to open the second quarter led to a 26-10 margin that capped a 10-3 run, which carried over from the first stanza.
Almodovar had 11 points by halftime with Fine having a hand in more than half of those conversions.
“He’s a great shooter. I love playing with him because I know if I find him, it’s going in,” Fine said.
The duo combined for 19 points by halftime, while the starting five accounted for 31 of the Millers’ 33 points. Noblesville shot 59 percent from the field (13 of 22).
“When it’s connected like it was tonight, they’re just dangerous. They really are. They play off each other. Play off each others’ energy. It was really good to see,” Millers’ head coach Scott McClelland remarked on his playmakers.
“We talked about winning a road conference game, and to come back the next night and finish the deal, so that was really encouraging. It was a good win. Good spot right now, but we have to get better and continue to improve.”
The Millers were coming off a 51-31 win over Hoosier Crossroads Conference foe Franklin Central on Friday to improve them to 3-1 in the league, a game behind front-runner Brownsburg (4-0).
Hamilton Heights beat 3A Western Boone, 79-73, in triple-overtime on Jan. 14 before traveling to face its Hamilton County rival.
The Huskies got a team-high 19 points from Sam Dawson, who buried five 3-pointers in 11 attempts. Maddox Bohland followed with 12 points and six rebounds. John Irion added five points. Tillman Etchison had four points. Evan Williamson contributed three points off the bench.
The youthful Hamilton Heights Huskies shot 7 of 9 from the field in the fourth quarter, showcasing their potential despite dropping their third game in four contests.
However, the Millers fluidity on offense and defense made it too difficult for the Huskies to keep pace.
“I thought the kids were really unselfish tonight and shared the ball and we were able to get a lot of early baskets off assists,” McClelland said. “That’s very encouraging, and we’ve got some different guys scoring tonight, so that was good. We needed an offensive night.”
For Almodovar, he’s going to keep grinding with the Millers chasing a potential top spot in the HCC and maybe their first sectional title since 2010.
“I’m going to come in with the same intensity as I would have before. I’m going to go after it the same whether I was committed for not. I’m going to attack every game the same and every practice the same,” Almodovar said.