By JAMES SEAY
For The Reporter
WESTFIELD – The Fishers Tigers improved to 11-8 on the season with a gutsy win 45-35 over the Westfield Shamrocks Thursday night at Westfield’s CSI Gymnasium. The Tigers are on a four-game winning streak while the Rocks have dropped their third straight game.
Jalen Haralson led all scorers with 18 points. JonAnthony Hall added nine and Millen McCartney paced the Tigers with six. Trey Buchanan led Westfield with 14 points and Alex Romack added 11.
The Rocks started off quick with a three-pointer by Trey Buchanan. The Tigers were quick to respond with an aggressive move to the basketball by Hall which resulted in free throws. The first quarter found both teams stymied by aggressive defense, but it ended with a powerful two-hand slam by Hall and then another dunk by Romack at the buzzer. The score was tied at 9-9 after one quarter.
The rest of the first half was a back-and-forth affair as neither team led by more than two points at any point in the game. Fishers held to a slim one-point lead at halftime, 18-17.
The Tigers were pushed by a second half surge by sophomore star Jalen Haralson in the second half to extend the one-point lead to 30-25 by the end of the third quarter. After being held to three points in the first half, the FHS sophomore exploded for 15 points in the second half to secure the Tigers’ fourth Hoosier Crossroads Conference win on the season.
Haralson was surprised by the defensive plan deployed by WHS. “They applied the box and one on my teammate Taden which was a surprise by me,” he said. “We just have to be ready for anything they throw at us.”
Coach Shane Sumpter of Westfield echoed similar thoughts regarding his team’s defensive prowess.
“For Fishers it starts with Haralson and Metzger, we were able to jam up a lane a bit – if you would have told me before the game, we would hold them to 45 I would have been ecstatic,” said Sumpter.
Coach Garrett Winegar was happy with his team’s performance but knows that the road ahead does not get any easier. “We got to move forward and keep getting better – our goal is to play our best basketball moving forward into the sectional with a young team,” he said.
Fishers will host Anderson on Saturday before facing Class 4A No. 5 Cathedral on Tuesday. Westfield will hit the road to face Harrison on Saturday.
FISHERS 45, WESTFIELD 35
Fishers FG FT TP PF
Taden Metzger 1 0-0 2 0
Jalen Haralson 4 9-15 18 1
Aidan Zimmer 0 0-2 0 3
JonAnthony Hall 3 3-5 9 0
Keenan Garner 2 0-2 4 1
John Kirby 0 0-0 0 0
Grant Haworth 0 0-0 0 0
Parker Perdue 1 0-0 2 3
Millen McCartney 2 0-0 6 0
James Stasey 2 0-0 4 1
Grant Ables 0 0-0 0 0
Totals 15 12-24 45 9
Fishers 3-pointers (3) McCartney 2, Haralson.
Westfield FG FT TP PF
Trey Buchanan 6 0-1 14 1
Sam Bishop 0 0-0 0 3
Charles Farrell 1 2-2 4 4
Alex Romack 5 0-0 11 4
Armani Middlebrooks 2 0-0 4 0
Will Harvey 1 0-0 2 2
Seth LaRavia 0 0-0 0 2
Max McComb 0 0-0 0 2
Devonte Morton 0 0-0 0 0
Totals 15 2-3 35 18
Westfield 3-pointers (3) Buchanan 2, Romack.
Score by Quarters
Fishers 10 8 12 15 – 45
Westfield 9 8 8 10 – 35