Saturday boys basketball: Fishers wins at O’Fallon Shootout

Fishers took a road trip to O’Fallon, Ill. Saturday to play in the Bank of O’Fallon Shootout for the second consecutive year.

The Tigers played Peoria Manual and beat the Illinois team 85-55. Fishers outscored Manual in each quarter, including a tremendous first period that finished with the Tigers ahead 23-8. Gardner and Sigler both scored six points in the first.

Fishers led 46-21 at halftime. Hall got going with nine points in the second quarter. The second half belonged to Kirby, as he poured in 18 points. Kirby scored 12 in the third period, then added six in the fourth, including all four of his free throw attempts.

Kirby finished with 24 points, leading a parade of five double-digit Fishers scorers. Hall had 18 points, McCartney scored 13, Gardner added 12 and Sigler totaled 10 points.

The Tigers are 20-0 for the season and host Center Grove on Friday.

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Westfield returned to its home floor on Saturday and got a 58-55 win over Mooresville.

The Shamrocks led 14-11 after the first quarter, with Will Harvey scoring five points. Westfield maintained a 32-30 halftime lead; Drew Haffner added eight points and Harvey scored six; both made two 3-pointers in the second quarter.

Durante Morton stepped up for the ‘Rocks in the third quarter, scoring six points and helping Westfield lead 40-35 after three. Morton poured in eight more points in the fourth quarter and the Shamrocks held on for the win.

Morton finished the game with 22 points, scoring in each period. Haffner finished with 15 points and Harvey scored 11; both made three triples.

Westfield is 12-3 and goes on the road twice this week. The Shamrocks travel to Harrison Tuesday and play at Hamilton Heights on Friday.

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The Guerin Catholic boys basketball team took care of Culver Academies 51-28 in an afternoon game last Saturday at the Eagles Nest.

The Culver Eagles led 8-6 after the first quarter, but the GC Golden Eagles took over after that, shutting out Culver 17-0 in the second period for a 23-8 halftime lead. Guerin Catholic then sailed through the second half, outscoring Culver 28-20 during that time.

Jake Grissom scored 21 points for the Golden Eagles, while Ryne Paris added 11 points. Bryson Cardinal and Carter Murans each pulled four rebounds.

Guerin Catholic is 16-3 and plays two road games this week. The Golden Eagles travel to New Palestine on Tuesday, then play at Danville on Friday.

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University’s boys saw their eight-game winning streak come to an end last Saturday afternoon at Heritage Christian, dropping an 81-54 decison to the Eagles.

Heritage Christian jumped out to an 8-0 lead in the first two minutes as the Blazers dug a hole they were not able to climb out of. University did close to 16-13 with ten seconds left in the first quarter on a McComb layin. Heritage Christian’s Caleb Flint answered with a deep three pointer at the buzzer to put the Eagles up 19-13 and ignite an 11-2 run.

McComb tried to keep University in the game with 13 first-half points but the Eagles led 37-26 at the half. The Trailblazers cut the lead to nine early in the third quarter but could get no closer as Heritage Christian gradually extended their margin.

McComb finished with a game high 21 points while Gray had 16 for University. Flint led Heritage Christian with 20 and Isaac Arterburn had 18.

Blanding felt the Trailblazers did not handle adversity well.

“We have to be better when things are not going our way. It’s a part of the game and when you are on the road it is always going to be hard,” he said. “I felt today was the first time we panicked and let things we couldn’t control take us out of our game. That’s on me as the coach. If they see me frustrated then that energy trickles down to them.”

The Trailblazers posted their lowest rebounding total of the season and were outrebounded 38-14.

“I was disappointed with our rebounding effort and shot selection today but we will get it all figured out. We needed a game like this. It’s going to be a long week of practice for them,” Blanding said.

University is now 11-7 on the season. The Trailblazers will host Shortridge Friday evening at The U Center in the Pioneer Academic Athletic Conference third-place game.

Heritage Christian is now 7-10 against the third toughest 2A schedule in the Sagarin ratings and the fourth toughest in the TWISTR ratings.