By RICHIE HALL
NOBLESVILLE – There is quite a bit of potential for the Noblesville boys basketball team this season, but there are also quite a few things a relatively young Millers squad will need to learn.
Noblesville opened its season Wednesday at The Mill by hosting Tindley, another young team with a ton of potential. The Millers led for most of the game, but the Tigers’ tough defense wore them down, allowing Tindley to take the lead in the fourth quarter and hang on for a 56-55 win.
“You got to give them credit,” said second-year Noblesville coach John Peckinpaugh of the Tigers. “They came out and played hard. I didn’t think we did a very good job of valuing the basketball and valuing possessions.”
The Millers led for the entirety of the first half. Senior Josh Durham opened the game with a 3-pointer and two free throws, senior Noah Harris threw down an impressive slam dunk, and sophomore Luke Almodovar – talk about potential – scored on a layin and a 3.
Durham’s layin was the last basket of the first quarter, which ended with Noblesville ahead 14-11. Almodovar drained another triple to open the second period, and he made another 3 with less than a minute in the quarter to give the Millers their largest lead at 27-18.
Durham and Almodovar are relatively new faces for Noblesville on varsity. Durham got into a few varsity games last season, while Almodovar was making his debut at the varsity level.
“Luke is very, very talented,” said Peckinpaugh. “Really good athlete. Shoots it really well. He’s got a bright future. He’s been thrown in a role where he was a JV starter last year and now he’s a varsity starter and has to assume some of that leadership that we lost with that senior class last year. I think he’s only going to keep getting better.”
Tindley’s Jashawnn Bates made a 3-pointer to end the first half. Still, Noblesville led 27-21 at the break. In the third quarter, a 3 by Aaron Humphrey tied the game at 31-31, but two baskets by freshman Aaron Fine and a free throw from Harris got the Millers back ahead 36-31.
Peckinpaugh pointed out that for the majority of the game, Noblesville had two sophomores and a freshman on the floor. Almodovar joined fellow sophomore Preston Roberts, who was a solid varsity player for the Millers as a freshman, in a starting role. Fine came off the bench and provided many quality minutes.
“Those three are going to learn a lot, get better as the year goes on,” said Peckinpaugh.
Harris, meanwhile, is one of three seniors on the Noblesville team this year. He joins Durham and Evan Wilson, who was out Wednesday night with an injury. Harris and Wilson were key players for the Millers last season, as were returning juniors EJ Smith and David Lloyd.
“Noah’s been pretty good for us,” said Peckinpaugh. “He had a great off-season. Just needs to step and be more of a vocal leader in the locker room and in practice. And then once we get Evan Wilson back that’ll help a lot as well.”
Noblesville led 38-35 going into the fourth, and Almodovar made a free throw at the beginning of the period to give the Millers a four-point lead. But the Tigers took over after that, tying the game on a Billy Brown 3-pointer, then finally pulling ahead with 5:08 left after Jayden Pinkston hit a free throw.
Bates gave Tindley its largest lead at 51-44 with three free throws, this after being fouled during a 3-point shot attempt. Noblesville tried to make a comeback in the final minutes, with Roberts making a steal and a dunk with less than a minute left to get the Millers within 53-52. But Brown answered that with a 3-pointer to put the game out of reach.
“We got a young group and that kind of has shown in practice,” said Peckinpaugh. “We’ve got to start to learn how to do it in practice first and value possessions in practice and that would hopefully carry over to games. We’re not at that point. We got a long ways to go. I think we have a good group of kids. I think we’re going to be able to win some games down the stretch. But right now, we’re just not there yet.”
Almodovar led Noblesville with 20 points, including three 3-pointers. Durham and Fine both added 10 points. All seven players that took to the floor for the Millers scored at least three points.
Noblesville is back at The Mill on Saturday to host Columbus East.
TINDLEY 56, NOBLESVILLE 55
Noblesville FG FT TP PF
Josh Durham 3 2-3 10 5
EJ Smith 1 1-2 3 0
Noah Harris 2 1-2 5 3
Luke Almodovar 6 5-7 20 3
Preston Roberts 2 0-1 4 3
Aaron Fine 5 0-1 10 1
David Lloyd 1 0-0 3 1
Totals 20 9-16 55 16
Score by Quarters
Tindley 11 10 14 21 – 56
Noblesville 14 13 11 17 – 55
Noblesville 3-pointers (6) Almodovar 3, Durham 2, Lloyd 1.