By RICHIE HALL
sports@readthereporter.com
NEW CASTLE – If an Indiana high school basketball team is going to put on a show, what better place to do that than the largest gym in the state?
Fishers played the Class 4A Regional 3 game at New Castle last Saturday, and the Tigers definitely put on a show while playing Kokomo. Fishers jumped out to an early first-quarter lead, then cruised through the next three periods for a 66-52 regional championship victory.
It’s the first boys basketball regional title for the Tigers since the school was re-established in 2006. The original Fishers won a regional back in 1922 in much less exciting circumstances. The Tigers received a forfeit from Wingate to get the trophy and advance to what was then a 16-team state tournament.
Wingate may not have shown up to the regional a century ago, but that was not the case in 2024. New Castle was a sellout for the game between top-ranked Fishers and No. 4 Kokomo, with attendance estimated at 8,500.
“This environment’s insane,” said Tigers senior Keenan Garner. “The bigger the games get, the more people come out, and you saw it here tonight. A lot of fans, the Tiger faithful are here. We just had a lot of people here to support us and it feels great.”
Fishers only trailed once, at the beginning of the game. The ‘Kats scored first on a layin by Flory Bidunga, their Kansas-bound superstar. The Tigers answered when junior Millen McCartney drained a 3-pointer. Kokomo sophomore Korbyn Hammel tied the game with a free throw, but Fishers senior Taden Metzger threw in the first of his many triples, and the Tigers would never trail again.
A basket by the Wildkats’ Karson Rogers cut the Fishers lead to 6-5 and it seemed like a back-and-forth was beginning. Instead, the Tigers blasted off on a 13-0 run, with four different players scoring points in that spurt.
Nathan Baker began the run by stealing an inbound pass for a basket, then made a putback. Jason Gardner Jr. scored with a floater, Garner threw in a hook shot and JonAnthony Hall made a rebound basket.
Garner finished the run with a 3-pointer. Just like that, Fishers led 19-5. Tigers coach Garrett Winegar credited the start to just “playing hard” and “really being locked in on the game plan.”
“Obviously Flory’s such a great player,” said Winegar. “He’s going to get his and he did. But we wanted to make sure that we didn’t give so much attention to him that their other guys got easy ones, which has happened a lot this year. I thought our guys did a great job of that.”
After that initial run, Fishers kept its lead anywhere from eight to 18 points during the remainder of the game. The Wildkats battled for the entire contest, but the Tigers stayed in front thanks to their exceptional balance and solid rebounding. Fishers outrebounded Kokomo 34-24, including a 15-6 advantage on the offensive side.
“I thought rebounding was a huge key for us coming into the game,” said Winegar. “We knew we had to battle. They’re going to get some offensive rebounds. That’s just a fact. But we didn’t want it to be to the point that it hurt us. And then on the other end, we really felt like we could crash on them and try to make an impact on the offensive glass, and our guards did a really good job getting in there and impacting the game on the offensive glass.”
A dunk by Bidunga kept the ‘Kats within 26-17 midway through the second quarter before Fishers used an 8-0 spurt to expand its lead. Freshman Cooper Zachary nailed a 3, Garner made a layin and Metzger hit another 3. Justin Kirby helped out earlier in the quarter with a traditional three-point play.
Fishers led 34-18 at halftime. The Tigers and the Wildkats mostly traded baskets in the third quarter. Metzger continued to stay hot by draining two more 3s. Garner also added six points, including a dunk off a steal. Fishers had nine takeaways in the game.
Taden Metzger threw in six 3-pointers for the Tigers. (Julie Brown)
Kokomo made one last push in the fourth quarter, with A’dayveon Young hitting two quick 3s. Bellamy also made a triple to get the Wildkats within 52-43.
Never fear, Metzger was there. The senior had already made his fifth triple of the game early in the quarter, and his sixth 3-pointer started a 7-0 spurt. Hall did the rest, making a layin and draining two free throws with 3:04 left to put Fishers up 59-43.
The only scary part for Fishers came with 4:19 left when Garner hurt his ankle and had to be helped off the floor. He didn’t play for the remainder of the game but appeared to be okay afterwards.
“I’ll be fine,” said Garner. “Just got to ice it, get it checked out here after I cut down the nets.”
Metzger’s six 3s translated into 18 points. Garner finished with a double-double of 13 points and 10 rebounds and Hall contributed 12 points, six rebounds and two blocked shots. Baker had five rebounds and Zachary handed out four assists.
Fishers is 26-1 and advances to the 4A north semi-state, to be played this Saturday at Elkhart. The Tigers play Crown Point in the first semifinal at 10 a.m., followed by Fort Wayne Wayne and Mishawaka playing the second semifinal around 11:45 a.m.
FISHERS 66, KOKOMO 52
Fishers FG FT TP PF
Taden Metzger 6-12 0-0 18 2
Millen McCartney 1-4 1-2 4 1
Cooper Zachary 1-6 4-4 7 1
JonAnthony Hall 4-9 4-4 12 4
Keenan Garner 4-8 4-4 13 1
Nathan Baker 2-3 0-0 4 4
Jason Gardner Jr. 1-4 1-2 3 1
Justin Kirby 2-5 1-3 5 0
Parker Perdue 0-1 0-0 0 0
Totals 21-52 15-19 66 14
Score by Quarters
Kokomo 7 11 14 20 – 52
Fishers 19 15 13 19 – 66
Fishers 3-point shooting (9-27) Metzger 6-11, McCartney 1-4, Zachary 1-4, Garner 1-3, Kirby 0-2, Perdue 0-1, Hall 0-1, Baker 0-1.
Fishers rebounds (34) Garner 10, Hall 6, Baker 5, Metzger 2, Gardner Jr. 2, Kirby 2, Perdue 2, McCartney 1, Zachary 1, team 3.
Reporter photos by Julie Brown