Defending 4A state champion Fishers improved to 27-0 and increased its win streak to 40 consecutive games Saturday after securing the Sectional 8 title with a 55-46 win over No. 8 Noblesville.
Fishers coach Garrett Winegar reminds his top-ranked team of this famous quote attributed to iconic UCLA basketball coach John Wooden, a 10-time national champion, the most ever by a Division I Men’s basketball coach:
“To win it once takes talent. To win it twice takes character.”
Fishers’ team motto best describes its powerhouse basketball program in three words. Relentless. Dynamic. Together. Noblesville (19-6) threw its best punches through three quarters, but Fishers never flinched. The Tigers deployed a relentless full-court press and pounced to an 11-0 scoring run to begin the final frame. Fishers took command and held Noblesville scoreless for the first seven minutes of the fourth quarter to eliminate the Millers in the sectional championship for the second consecutive season.
“When you have talented players who are coachable and they don’t care who gets the credit or who scores, you have a chance to be special,” Winegar said.
Fishers’ Jason Gardner Jr. initially broke the ice with a tough layup and stared down the Noblesville bench after he drew the foul. The sophomore guard was a maestro while controlling the pace in the championship game and delivered highlight-reel, alley-oop assists to senior JonAnthony Hall for a few emphatic slams.
Fishers senior Nathan Baker stepped up with 12 points and two blocks to showcase his skills on both ends of the floor. The Taylor commit used a spin move to navigate through the paint and finish a left-handed layup. After the 6-foot-7 center denied a shot attempt, Gardner scooped up the loose ball and dished another alley-oop to Hall in transition.
Noblesville junior Justin Curry II beat the first-quarter buzzer with a putback layup and senior point guard T.J. Davidson beat the first-half buzzer with a phenomenal left-handed layup to give the Millers a 30-24 lead at halftime. Davidson led the Millers with 14 points and Curry added 13 points in the loss.
“Just had to make some defensive adjustments,” Winegar said. “(Noblesville) did a great job getting Curry and T.J. (Davidson) off of some players and hit a few threes there in the second quarter.
Gardner was shocked his team trailed heading into the locker room, but admitted he knew the sectional championship rematch would play out much differently than the 74-40 mauling by the Tigers earlier in December.
“The first time we played them, that was not the right Noblesville team that we played,” Gardner said. “We knew coming in that they were going to treat this as a Super Bowl and they were going to give us their best shot. They did in the first half and it kind of shocked us a little bit.”
Fishers sophomore Cooper Zachary ignited the second-half rally with a catch-and-shoot 3 from the wing to cut the deficit in half. After Zachary secured a steal, he threw a dime to the rim for Miami (Ohio) commit Justin Kirby to throw down a two-handed, alley-oop slam. Gardner tied the score at 38-38 in the final minute of the third quarter with a fastbreak layup and led the unbeaten Tigers with 14 points, including eight points in the second half. Winegar believes both depth and balanced scoring are what makes the Tigers such a force to be reckoned with.
“We want to be in close games because we have practiced this,” Winegar said. “We are built for this. Just giving them the confidence we are going to make the plays we need to win this game.”
The sellout crowd inside Carmel’s Eric Clark Athletic Center erupted once Fishers senior Millen McCartney drilled a 3-pointer to break the tie. Fishers seized the momentum and Gardner followed up with a sensational finish at the rim to force the Millers to retaliate with their backs up against the ropes. With 1:30 left in the fourth quarter, Hall slammed his signature alley-oop to increase the lead to double-digits. Baker put the finishing touch with a display of phenomenal footwork to draw the foul, finish the layup and seal the win.
“When we just all come together and figure out how to become one-minded, we could do a lot of incredible things,” Hall said. “You saw it here in the fourth quarter defensively, they just couldn’t score.”
Last season, Fishers started 17-0 before suffering its first loss at Carmel and used the bump in the road as a lesson learned. Over 13 months have passed since the Tigers last suffered defeat on the same Bill Shepherd Court they cut down the nets to save memorabilia following Saturday’s sectional triumph. The nationally-ranked Tigers continue their quest to repeat next Saturday against West Lafayette Harrison (19-6) at Frankfort.