By RICHIE HALL
NOBLESVILLE – Another night, another pair of close games at the Class 4A Noblesville sectional.
Westfield and Carmel both advanced to tonight’s Sectional 8 championship at The Mill with last-second shots. In the first game, the Shamrocks’ Nic DePasquale hit a free throw with 2.3 seconds left to get his team past Zionsville 32-31. The second game was even more dramatic, as the Greyhounds’ Jackson Jannsen made a buzzer-beating basket to send Carmel past the Millers 39-37.
FOURTH QUARTER TAKEOVER
Westfield’s victory was the first for the Shamrocks in a sectional since 2010. Coach Shane Sumpter called it a “long time coming for our program.”
“Every game in this sectional, it’s just so hard,” said Sumpter. “Every team’s good. And I told our guys three weeks ago that I thought every game in this sectional would be close and they would all be low-scoring.”
It took until the fourth quarter for Westfield to finally get on top of the Eagles. Just to get there, the Shamrocks had to make an 8-0 run to tie the game at 25-25.
The run started late in the third period, with Westfield trailing 25-17. Eli Patchett made a 3-pointer, DePasquale hit a free throw and Saaki Vishnumolakala’s layin got the Shamrocks within 25-23, which is where the period ended.
The first points of the fourth quarter weren’t scored until the 6:33 mark, but they were what Westfield needed: Two Cam Haffner free throws that tied the game. Zionsville inched back ahead with its own free throw, but Haffner responded with a jumper. Finally, the ‘Rocks were in front, 27-26.
The Eagles’ Anthony Scales made a jump shot to get his team back in the lead. But after a timeout, Westfield’s Braden Smith drained a 3-pointer while being fouled. Smith made the free throw, and the Shamrocks led 31-28.
Jackson Hughes, who hit Zionsville’s game-winner in its Tuesday first-round game, answered with a 3 to tie the game. Westfield got the ball back and held for a final shot. DePasquale went in for a basket with seconds left, but was fouled.
DePasquale hit the first free throw, and was all the Shamrocks needed. Zionsville tried for a half-court shot, but it was deflected away.
DePasquale said the ‘Rocks “like to score a lot of points and we like to push the ball up and down the floor, but in games like that our coach prepares us and we’re pretty capable of competing in games like that. It’s really fun. We just kept it going all the way through.”
“Just really proud of my guys,” said Sumpter. “We had to hang around, hang around and just find a way to win it and that’s what we did.”
The Eagles held the lead for all of the first three quarters, but weren’t able to shake the ‘Rocks. Hughes made a three-point play late in the first period to give Zionsville a 9-6 lead at the end of one. The Eagles led 14-11 at halftime, then went on a 6-0 run to take a 20-13 advantage midway through the third. Another Hughes and-1 with 2:07 left in the period put the Eagles ahead 25-17, and that’s when Westfield began its run.
DePasquale led the Shamrocks with 11 points, while Vishnumolakala collected four rebounds. Westfield improved to 17-6 with the victory.
LAST-SECOND JUMPER
Carmel was down 37-35 with 30 seconds to go in the fourth quarter, but two baskets sent the Greyhounds to victory. The first was a layin by Peter Suder to tie the game. The ‘Hounds got the ball back with seconds left, and Jannsen drained a jump shot for the win.
“We were trying to get an out-of-bounds play going,” said Jannsen. He said he got in the wrong spot, but found his way to an open part of the court and took the shot.
“I saw the clock was at three seconds and I knew I just had to drive that, take that shot,” said Jannsen. Once he took it, he said he “felt pretty comfortable” with it, and it went in.
The Carmel-Noblesville game was close throughout, with the exception of parts of the first half. The Millers came out red hot from 3-point range, making six consecutive triples on their way to an 18-11 lead early in the second. Jordan Gadis hit three 3s in the first quarter, with Alex Hunt and Preston Roberts both making one.
Evan Wilson’s 3 put Noblesville ahead 18-11, and Alex Hunt added two free throws to make it a 20-11 game. But Carmel came back after that, making a 9-0 run to tie the game at 20-20 by halftime. Suder scored back-to-back baskets on a rebound and a steal, then Connor Gioia was good on a layin before making two free throws to tie the game.
“They hit shots, and I think that’s been the theme for them,” said Greyhounds coach Ryan Osborn. “They hit shots early and I thought they hit open shots. So we got in our gaps a little bit more and tried to take away some of the drive and the driving kicks, and contest their shots a little bit better in the second quarter.”
The ‘Hounds led for most of the third quarter, except for when the Millers’ Noah Harris drained a 3 to put his team up 23-22. But Jannsen answered that with a 3. Carmel finished the period up 26-25, but E.J. Smith started the fourth quarter with two free throws, which moved Noblesville ahead 27-26.
The fourth period saw some outstanding back-and-forth, with the lead changing seven times in the first six minutes. Hunt scored seven points in that period, including a tipback and two layins; each basket gave the Millers the lead. Brian Waddell scored off a steal, which he turned into a three-point play.
Brendon Fisher’s free throws gave Noblesville a 36-33 lead with a minute left, but that got cut to 36-35 after free throws from Waddell and Jannsen. Roberts made a free throw to put the Millers up 37-35, but Carmel took over after that.
Gioia and Suder both scored nine points for the ‘Hounds, with Gioia collecting five rebounds. Hunt led all scorers with 14 points, and Fisher led the rebounds with five.
“Tough to go out like that,” said Noblesville coach John Peckinpaugh. “I know our guys executed exactly what we wanted to do. We missed some open looks, but our guys just stuck with it, kept with the game plan. Did a great job defensively on a very well-coached team. Just competed for 32 minutes. I’m extremely proud of how they played. Those six seniors have laid a foundation for what we want to build here. I think the program’s in really good hands with what they’ve done this year.”
Carmel is now 17-7 for the season, while the Millers finished 11-13.
WESTFIELD 32, ZIONSVILLE 31
Westfield FG FT TP PF
Braden Smith 1-4 1-1 4 3
Benji Welch 0-2 0-0 0 0
Cam Haffner 2-5 2-2 6 1
Nic DePasquale 3-9 5-10 11 4
Camden Simons 2-2 0-0 4 1
Saaki Vishnumolakala 1-4 0-0 2 1
Matthew Penley 0-1 0-0 0 2
Eli Patchett 1-4 0-0 3 0
Zach Byrer 1-1 0-0 2 1
Totals 11-32 8-13 32 13
Score by Quarters
Westfield 6 5 12 9 – 32
Zionsville 9 5 11 6 – 31
Westfield 3-point shooting (2-11) Patchett 1-4, Smith 1-2, Welch 0-2, Haffner 0-2, DePasquale 0-1.
Westfield rebounds (20) Vishnumolakala 4, Smith 3, DePasquale 3, Simons 3, Penley 2, Welch 1, team 4.
CARMEL 39, NOBLESVILLE 37
Noblesville FG FT TP PF
Jordan Gadis 3-6 0-0 9 4
Brendon Fisher 0-1 2-2 2 2
E.J. Smith 0-0 2-2 2 2
Noah Harris 1-3 0-0 3 4
Alex Hunt 5-10 3-5 14 3
Preston Roberts 1-2 1-2 4 3
Evan Wilson 1-2 0-0 3 2
David Lloyd 0-6 0-0 0 1
Trenton Reed 0-0 0-1 0 1
Totals 11-30 8-12 37 22
Noblesville 3-point shooting (7-21) Gadis 3-5, Harris 1-3, Wilson 1-2, Hunt 1-2, Roberts 1-2, Lloyd 0-6, Fisher 0-1.
Noblesville rebounds (17) Fisher 5, Wilson 3, Hunt 3, Gadis 2, Roberts 2, Smith 1, Lloyd 1.
Carmel FG FT TP PF
Connor Gioia 3-4 2-2 9 2
Peter Suder 4-11 1-3 9 4
Brian Waddell 2-2 4-5 8 5
Josh Whack 1-1 0-0 2 1
Charlie Williams 2-6 0-2 4 2
Jackson Jannsen 2-5 1-2 6 1
Bryce Beery 0-0 0-0 0 0
Wil Leary 0-0 0-0 0 3
Nick Frische 0-0 1-3 1 1
Totals 14-29 9-17 39 19
Carmel 3-point shooting (2-9) Jannsen 1-4, Gioia 1-2, Suder 0-3.
Carmel rebounds (21) Gioia 5, Suder 4, Waddell 3, Jannsen 2, Whack 2, Beery 1, Frische 1, team 3.
Score by Quarters
Noblesville 15 5 5 12 – 37
Carmel 11 9 6 13 – 39
Carmel’s Connor Gioia is guarded by Noblesville’s E.J. Smith during the Greyhounds-Millers Sectional 8 game Friday at The Mill. Carmel won 39-37 on a buzzer-beater to advance to tonight’s championship.
Westfield’s Cam Haffner (22) and Saaki Vishnumolakala both had solid games for the Shamrocks during their 32-31 win over Zionsville, which qualified them for tonight’s championship. Haffner scored six points and Vishnumolakala collected four rebounds. (Kent Graham)