Fishers lost another tough one on Saturday, as Fort Wayne Snider beat the
Tigers 63-61 at the Tiger Den.
It was a close game throughout. Fishers led 16-15 after the first quarter and 35-29
at halftime, but the Panthers worked their way back into the contest in the third
period.
Willie Jackson had a solid game, scoring 22 points and making 14 of 17
free-throw attempts. Jeremy Szilagyi drained two 3-pointers on his way to 15
points.
The Tigers are now 1-3 for the season and will play at Carmel next Saturday.
Hamilton Southeastern notched its biggest win of the early season on Saturday, upsetting Class 4A No. 2 Fort Wayne North Side 75-67 in an overtime game at the Royals’
gym.
Aaron Etherington made a 3-pointer with four seconds left in
regulation to tie the game at 61-all and send it to the extra
period. The Legends made the first basket of the overtime on a 3-pointer, but HSE went
on a run to take the lead and also made some key defensive stops.
North hit one more 3-pointer to cut Southeastern’s lead to four with 30 seconds
left, but the Royals hit their free throws down the stretch to secure the win.
“Our guys were resilient tonight,” said HSE coach Brian Satterfield. He credited his
team with fighting back when it got down, playing together, moving the ball and
getting quality shots.
Four different players scored at least 15 points for the Royals. Noah Smith led the
way with 21 points, followed by Etherington with 16 and Nick Bowman and Mabor
Majak with 15 each.
“We know that we got different guys that can step up,” said Satterfield.
The Royals totaled 43 rebounds on the night, with Chaz Birchfield collecting nine
boards. Etherington had eight rebounds, Majak grabbed seven, and Bowman and
Smith both had five. Birchfield also handed out five assists.
“The biggest thing was what we did on the boards,” said Satterfield.
Finally, the Royals totaled eight blocked shots on the night. Majak, a 7-foot-1
sophomore made four blocks, with Etherington and Smith both making two.
“We got some length,” said Satterfield. “That’s one thing we like about this team.”
The Royals are now 3-0.
They will play at 4A No. 7 North Central next Friday, then
host Center Grove on Saturday.
Noblesville’s Zack Johnson (23) scoops the ball to the basket during the Millers’ 27-22 win at Fishers Friday night. Also pictured are Noblesville’s Eagan Keever-Hill (left) and Fishers’ Brendhan Russom (right). Reporter photo by Kent Graham
By
RICHIE HALL
Hamilton County Reporter Sports Editor
It didn’t take long for this year’s Noblesville boys basketball team to establish its
identity.
This year’s Millers are 1) tenacious, tough defenders who 2) don’t quit. The first
part had already manifested itself in Noblesville’s season-opening win last
week, and the second part was revealed in fantastic form Friday night when the
Millers played at Fishers in a county rivalry and Hoosier Crossroads Conference opener
for both teams.
Noblesville dominated in the second half to eventually win 27-22 in one of the crazier high school basketball games in recent history. The Tigers had the Millers down 15-4 (yes, FOUR) at halftime.
“It’s a crazy game,” said Noblesville coach Brian McCauley. “We scored zero in the second. They scored two in the third. Then we scored 17 in the fourth. It can be a funny game sometimes.”
Funny, yes. But it was also a game that proved that “low scoring” need not mean
“low quality.” Friday’s game at the Tiger Den was an entertaining show of patience
and strategy, with persistent defense as the main theme. Simply put, it was good,
old-fashioned basketball.
Fishers led 8-4 after the first quarter. Zack Johnson started the game with two free throws for Noblesville, but the Tigers went on an 8-0 run after that. Terry Hicks scored six of those points on easy baskets.
Xavier Hines scored for the Millers towards the end of the period, and that
would be it for Noblesville until halftime. Fishers went ahead 13-4 after Hicks made
a free throw at the 4:23 mark, then the Tigers held the ball until the two-minute
mark.
At that point, Noblesville began to come in, and Fishers started passing the
ball. The Tigers were waiting for a last second shot, and sort of got what they
wanted: Willie Jackson made two free throws with 10.2 seconds left.
The Millers got the first points of the second half when Johnson got credit for a
basket after Fishers was called for basket interference.
“It gave us a little bit of confidence,” said McCauley. “It got us a little closer to
them. We kept telling ourselves that even though we’re not scoring, we’re doing a
pretty good job defensively, which kept us close. Our defense kept us in it. And then
in the fourth quarter, we really came alive and a lot of that goes to Zack Johnson.”
Indeed, there was still plenty of time for Noblesville to make a comeback, and the
Millers got their baskets slowly but surely. Johnson scored again off a steal, then Ryan
Barnes made a layin. Hicks did get Fishers on the board in the third with a layin,
keeping the Tigers ahead 17-10 going into the fourth period.
“I told our guys that we need to have a good start in the third,” said McCauley. “First couple possessions weren’t exactly how we wanted them, but we had some defensive stops.”
Noblesville began the quarter with baskets by Johnson and Barnes to cut the Tigers lead to 17-14. Jeremy Szilagyi then nailed a 3-pointer to get Fishers back up
20-14 with about five minutes left.
But after that, it was all Millers, which finished the game on a 13-2 run. Johnson
made a couple free throws at the 4:26 mark. Then the Millers grabbed the lead: Hines
scored off a steal, then after another defensive stop, Johnson drained a 3-pointer to
get Noblesville ahead 21-20.
“Xavier did a really good job in the fast break,” said McCauley. “We got a steal, he
drove in and had a finger roll over the front of the rim, which was a big basket.”
After that, the Millers finished the job from the free-throw line. Johnson put
Noblesville up 23-20 with foul shots. Hicks cut that lead to 23-22 with a layin, and the
Millers had the ball again with 25 seconds left.
Eventually Fishers fouled, and Johnson was sent back to the line. Two more free
throws for Zack, a 25-22 lead for Noblesville. The Tigers had one more chance, but
Barnes came up with a steal under the basket with 5.5 seconds left. The Tigers
fouled Jordan Schmidt with 0.4 seconds remaining, and his two foul shots sealed the
game.
“Ryan did a good job inside in the second half, being strong,” said McCauley.
The Millers’ defense played extremely well in the second half, forcing Fishers into
10 turnovers. Noblesville was disrupting passes all throughout the half.
“We were in attack mode, and then by the time they went into attack mode, the
pressure was on them a little bit more,” said McCauley.
“They did a good job of being the aggressor,” said Tigers coach Matt Moore.
“Anytime you’re the aggressor, calls go your way and momentum can go your way.
I thought our guys played not to lose.”
“If we make plays and hit free throws and get to the line, we stretch it out,” said
Moore. “But we started throwing it away.
We didn’t make the simple play.”
Johnson finished the game with 17 points, including a perfect 8-of-8 from the
free-throw line. Barnes wound up with four rebounds.
Hicks scored 11 points for the Tigers.
“A lot of credit goes to them,” Moore said of Noblesville. “They found a way to
win the game. That has a lot to do with the character of his guys and their ability to just
stay the course.”
The 22 points that the Millers allowed Fishers was the lowest amount a team had
scored against Noblesville since Dec. 16, 2006, when the Millers permitted just 21
points to Hamilton Heights in a 57-21 win over the Huskies. Meanwhile, the 27 points
that the Tigers allowed Noblesville was the fewest since Fishers re-opened in 2006.
The Millers (2-0) are back home at The Mill tonight to play Columbus East. That
game was to be played last Saturday, but was pushed back due to the Olympians’ run
to the Class 5A state championship. Fishers (1-2) will play again at the Tiger Den,
welcoming Fort Wayne Snider.
Hamilton Southeastern won its Hoosier Crossroads Conference opener on Friday, taking care of Avon 70-46 in an away game.
The Royals were tied with the Orioles 29-29 at halftime. Southeastern began to
pull away in the third quarter, leading 50-43 by the end of the period, then dominated
the fourth quarter by outscoring Avon 20-3.
Chaz Birchfield led the HSE scoring with 20 points. Noah Smith scored 14 points
and came close to a quadruple-double: Smith made nine steals, dished out eight
assists and pulled seven rebounds. Aaron Etherington also had seven rebounds.
The Royals are 2-0 overall and will host Fort Wayne North Side tonight in a 7:30
p.m. varsity start.
Two major Hamilton County government projects are now cleared for funding next year following a joint meeting of county leadership. County Commissioners and County Council members met yesterday to approve expansion of the county Government and Judicial Center and the County Jail.
Both projects are expected to actually get underway in 2018 to answer the need for more space due to the county’s continuing growth in population. The approvals, being recommended by the commissioners, come after months of study and debate.
The $25.4 million addition to the judicial center in downtown Noblesville is all that commissioners asked. The jail expansion, with a cost of $13.1 million, is a compromise of sorts between council and commissioners. Commissioners had asked to expand the jail to house about 220 more inmates, but the council wanted to add space for 120 new bunks.
The jail, built in 1994, has a capacity of 296, but often is overcrowded. The commissioners feel that building for future needs would be better than facing another expansion later. The compromise provides for a ‘shell’ that can allow the further addition of cells for an estimated $4 million.
The judicial center expansion will see a new addition to the west of the current 25-year-old building that will increase floor space by around 50 percent. More courtrooms, offices and storage space are planned. Tentative plans call for eventually moving offices, currently in the old courthouse, to the new structure.
County officials say the projects can be accomplished without any increase in the local property tax rate. The county has several million dollars in reserve and the ability to sell bonds that will take the place of an earlier bond issue that is soon to be paid off.
Fishers Police are preparing to move into a new headquarters building next year, and the department is asking for the public’s help in documenting the history of local policing. Fishers law enforcement’s history dates all the way back to 1976.
Some people still living in and around Fishers have been around since the local area was just a small farm community, while many others have just become part of the community very recently. All are asked to help.
There are some people who have since retired from the city and many of you may still be in contact with those former residents. Local authorities are encouraging an outreach to those people.
If you have digital photographs, those can be easily emailed to local police. For older photographs that are not digital, police can scan those pictures and then return them. The photographs will be cataloged in a database. Please have the name of who took the picture. If the picture is used or displayed, police want to make sure that proper credit is given to who took the picture. If not available, it will used and labeled unknown.
If you run across pictures of police officers, cars, events, etc. that you may have taken over the years, local officers very much want to see them.
For physical items of historical significance, there are two options. If you have something that you don’t want anymore, you can donate it and police will give you a receipt for the item. If it is something that you don’t want to donate, we can take it on loan and give it back to you at an agreed upon time. Officers are interested in looking at anything that you have.
If you have anything to submit, e-mail Robert Bowling at bowlingr@fishers.in.us or Tom Brooks at his e-mail address – brookst@fishers.in.us
Wednesday’s girls basketball game between Hamilton Southeastern and
Noblesville turned out to be a good occasion
for both teams.
The host and Class 4A No. 8 Royals won the Hoosier Crossroads Conference contest
70-46, stopping a two-game losing streak and improving them to 7-2 for the season
and 1-1 in the HCC. Meanwhile, one of the Miller players made history: Senior Emily
Kiser scored her 1000th point.
Kiser reached the 1000-point mark with 4:34 remaining in the second quarter by
making a layup. The Royals stopped the game so that Kiser could be recognized for
her achievement. The Michigan-bound Kiser became the eighth Noblesville girls
player to reach that mark; her older brotherJohn Kiser reached 1000 points in 2016,
making them the first siblings to reach that milestone in Millers history.
Southeastern was in control from the start, leading 21-11 after the first quarter and
41-21 at halftime. Sophomore Sydney Parrish had a sensational shooting night,
draining five 3-pointers on her way to 27 points. Parrish also pulled five rebounds and
handed out four assists.
Amaya Hamilton had a great all-around game, with 12 points, nine rebounds and
seven steals. Molly Walton dished out eight assists, while Tayah Irvin grabbed five
rebounds.
Kiser finished the game with 26 points and nine rebounds. Maddie Knight scored
12 points, including three 3-pointers. Abby Haley handed out five assists.
Southeastern will be back on its home court Saturday afternoon to host Greenfield Central.
The Millers (4-5, 0-3) will also be playing Saturday afternoon, returning to The
Mill to play 4A No. 3 North Central. Both games have 1:30 p.m. varsity starts.
Fishers found itself on the wrong end of a fourth-quarter
comeback Wednesday, as Mooresville beat the Tigers 61-48
in the Tiger Den.
Fishers led 31-26 at halftime and 45-35 after three quarters.
But the Pioneers stunned the Tigers in the fourth period,
outscoring them 26-3.
Tamia Perryman reached double-double status for Fishers,
scoring 14 points and grabbing 18 rebounds. Toni Grace added 12 points.
Casey Walker had seven rebounds while Lydia Stullken blocked two shots.
The Tigers are now 7-3 and off until next Friday, Dec. 8 when they travel to
Noblesville for a Hoosier Crossroads Conference game.
Hamilton County Clerk Tammy Baitz has issued a letter saying it is her “intention not to seek a fourth term as Clerk of the Courts.” In lhe letter, published in the November 30th edition of the Hamilton County Reporter, Baitz wrote she has “seen many changes over my years working in the office – most recently with the implementation of e-filing.”
“I have thoroughly enjoyed serving as an elected official and want to thank the citizens of Hamilton County for the privilege” Baitz wrote.
Baitz had worked under several clerks when she ran for Clerk and served two terms, from 2000 through 2007. Her third term began Jan. 1, 2015, and will end Dec. 31, 2018.
“I am very proud of my staff of 50 full- and part-time deputy clerks and the work they accomplish each day on behalf of the county,” Baitz wrote.
The office of Hamilton County Clerk will be up for re-election during the 2018 election cycle.
