By RICHIE HALL
KOKOMO – Fishers got several things out of its trip to Kokomo Wednesday night.
The main accomplishment for the Tigers was a 64-54 victory over the Wildkats. That gave Fishers a new record for wins in a single season, as the Tigers won their 16th game of the year. It also gave Fishers a win heading into next week’s sectional, and it was a nice way for Tigers coach Matt Moore to say hello to his old school; he coached there from 2014 to 2017.
“It’s fun,” said Moore. “I think Kokomo does a great job of competing. It’s easy to look at their record and have an opinion. But every time we’ve played them, they’ve played hard, they’ve played together. And if they continue to live inside that, they’re going to be a team that has a chance to upset some teams in the tournament.”
The Wildkats played close with Fishers in the first half. The Tigers scored the first four points of the game off layins by Alex Szilagyi and Jeffrey Simmons, but Kokomo answered that with a 6-0 run to lead 6-4.
Fishers came back with a 7-0 run, with Willie Jackson scoring five of those points. Jackson made a 3-pointer, then Szilagyi scored on a putback. Jackson’s layin made the score 11-6. But the Wildkats’ Jayveon White hit a buzzer-beating 3 to get his team within 11-9 at the end of the first quarter.
Fishers led 16-11 midway through the second before Kokomo scored seven straight points to go up 18-16. A pair of Szilagyi free throws tied the game again, but Bobby Wonnell’s 3 gave the Kats a 21-18 lead. Justin Long made a layin late in the quarter, so the Tigers went into halftime down by one, 21-20.
Fishers began to pull away in the third period, scoring 21 points. Szilagyi nailed a pair of 3s to get the Tigers ahead 26-23, and Fishers held the lead from there. The Tigers then scored on back-to-back possessions twice, and Jackson’s 3 got Fishers up 37-29.
“They did a great job of coming out, making sure that ball movement was better,” said Moore. “I thought we established lane touches a lot better. And we got a string of stops together. We got a stop right out of the half, led to a bucket. For us, the goal was to get three stops in a row, put it together a few times, which led to some offense.”
The Tigers led 41-33 at the end of three, and Szilagyi hit a 3 to begin the fourth quarter, giving Fishers a double-digit lead for the first time at 44-33. The Tigers continued to roll until the end, with Simmons scoring back-to-back layins, then Zach Webb came off the bench to make 7 of 8 free throws in the final 1:27 of the game. Moore said that with Terry Hicks and Geoffrey Brown still out, his team needed another player to make shots, and Webb filled that role nicely.
“Putting him in those positions to get some confidence and see the ball go in the basket will pay dividends for us as we move into the Tuesday game against Anderson,” said Moore. “I thought Zach did a great job stepping into that role tonight.”
Szilagyi finished the game with three 3-pointers and 17 points, while Jackson made two 3s on his way to 16 points. Simmons scored 10 and pulled six rebounds; Josiah Matthews led the rebounding with seven. Szilagyi handed out five assists.
The Tigers finished the regular season 16-7 and will take on Anderson in the first round of the Carmel sectional on Tuesday.
Fishers 64, Kokomo 54
Fishers FG FT TP PF
Josiah Matthews 2-7 3-4 7 3
Willie Jackson 5-7 4-4 16 1
Alex Szilagyi 5-7 4-6 17 3
Luke Hernandez 1-3 0-0 2 2
Jeffrey Simmons 5-6 0-0 10 1
Justin Long 1-1 3-4 5 0
Emmanuel Davis 0-0 0-0 0 3
Zach Webb 0-3 7-8 7 0
Roman Molden 0-0 0-0 0 0
Drew Turner 0-0 0-0 0 0
Julian Hazel 0-0 0-0 0 0
Charlie Smith 0-0 0-0 0 0
Totals 19-34 21-26 64 13
Score by Quarters
Fishers 11 9 21 23 – 64
Kokomo 9 12 12 21 – 54
Fishers 3-point shooting (5-14) Szilagyi 3-4, Jackson 2-2, Matthews 0-4, Hernandez 0-2, Webb 0-2.
Fishers rebounds (24) Matthews 7, Simmons 6, Jackson 3, Szilagyi 2, Hernandez 2, Davis 1, Long 1, Smith 1, Webb 1.
Fishers’ Emmanuel Davis looks to pass the ball during the Tigers’ game at Kokomo on Wednesday. Fishers won 64-54 to improve to 16-7 on the season; that is a new record for wins in a single season. (Richie Hall)