By RICHARD TORRES
For The Reporter
FISHERS – With seven games played over two weeks, five in a span of seven days and three through the past two, the top-ranked Class 4A Fishers Tigers were running on fumes Friday night during the championship final of their annual holiday tournament.
However, despite their grueling stretch, the unbeaten Tigers (12-0) refused to let fatigue prevail in a rematch against 4A No. 16 Fort Wayne Wayne (7-3).
Up by as many as 11 points in the first half and down by three early in the third, the Tigers relied on defense and offensive execution to win their 25th straight game – dating back to last year – with a 62-56 victory over the Fort Wayne Wayne Generals for the holiday tourney title.
“It was our seventh game since I think Dec. 20, so I thought we started to run out of gas a little bit there in our legs. We didn’t hit shots we normally hit, but we found a way to win. Took care of the ball late, hit a couple of free throws and got stops and rebounds when we needed to,” Fishers head coach Garrett Winegar said. “Credit to our guys for responding. Same as in the Hall of Fame, find a way to win. Make plays when we needed to.”
The Tigers’ decisive runs unfolded in waves.
The first, a 12-7 run in the first quarter, increased their lead from 13-11 to 28-18 by the second frame. The second, a 12-4 charge in the third quarter, erased a momentary 39-36 deficit, which turned into a 48-43 lead.
Their final push, an 8-0 run highlighted by back-to-back 3-pointers by Millen McCartney and Nathan Baker in addition to a coast-to-coast layup by tournament MVP Jason Gardner Jr., put the Tigers ahead 56-45 with five minutes left in the fourth quarter.
The Generals didn’t go away, though, cutting their deficit to three and four points in the final minute of regulation.
“We went on that run in the first half, and we got it to 11, and we told them. These guys have had a lot of games like that, and they always find a way to come back,” Winegar said. “Credit to them. They don’t stop playing.”
The Generals beat Bloomington North, 71-63, on Thursday before defeating Portage, 63-57, Friday afternoon to get their semistate rematch with the Tigers, which opened Thursday with a 77-37 win over South Dearborn followed by a 74-35 semifinal victory against Chesterton on Friday morning. Fishers beat Fort Wayne Wayne 69-61 in the semistate finals last year en route to the program’s first-ever state championship.
“Obviously, with the semistate game tied at half last year, we found a way to win that, but it’s a really good team and a really good program. Coach (Anthony) Brewer is doing a heck of a job over there. I think there’s a good chance, if we can get lucky enough to find a way to the regional or semistate again, they’ll be there as well,” Winegar said.
Friday’s holiday tournament final was a preview of what could be again, as seniors Chase Barnes and HJ Dillard III both finished with 19 and 15 points, respectively, for the Generals.
The duo worked inside and outside to answer the Tigers, who had three players in double figures, including Gardner Jr. with a team-high 15 points.
“Honestly, it was more of a mental thing for a lot of us because obviously coming from the Hall of Fame Classic and then turning around and playing in our tournament with three games in two days and two in a day against three good teams, it was all mental,” Gardner Jr. said. “We found a way to pull away and win it.”
Gardner found a way to impact the game on defense in the clutch with 35.2 seconds left and Fisher clinging to a 58-54 lead.
The sophomore guard pressed on Fort Wayne’s inbound on the far end of the court, and he was able to disrupt the sequence enough to force a turnover, which kept the Generals trailing.
Fishers’ Cooper Zachary buried a pair of free throws 10 seconds later for his 11th point and Baker hit two more with 8.0 seconds remaining for his sixth points to protect the Tigers’ lead and winning streak.
Justin Kirby, who was named to the all-tournament first team, had 11 points. Gardner hauled in six rebounds.
JonAnthony Hall had nine rebounds and eight points and provided the game’s highlight play with a putback, one-handed dunk in the second quarter to put Fishers ahead 31-21. Hall soared into the air and hammered down a missed 3-pointer by McCartney for the jam.
McCartney and Baker each finished with six points, and Logan Sigler provided five with five rebounds.
“We knew they play a lot like us because they play fast. They transition up and down. They’re guard heavy, and everybody can make plays on the team, so it was a good matchup for us,” Gardner said. “They came back and got some momentum, but we pulled away in the fourth and were able to take care of the ball to secure the win.”
The tournament win bookends a wave that began with Fishers’ 65-49 Mudsock victory against rival Hamilton Southeastern at the Fishers Event Center on Dec. 20 and immediately followed up the Tigers’ first-ever Hall of Fame Classic title.
“I think we’re at least mentally fatigued. You know, the Hall of Fame is such a big event. You spend so much time preparing for that, and right before that we had the Mudsock rivalry, which is a big game for our guys, and then this tournament,” Winegar said. “I don’t know about them, but I know as coaches, we’re tired.”
The Tigers get a short break until their next game at Pike on Jan. 10 before resuming Hoosier Crossroads Conference play at Brownsburg on Jan. 17.
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