Showdown Saturday: It will be No. 1 vs. No. 2 at The Mill for a sectional championship

NOBLESVILLE — Call the Bay City Rollers. It’s Saturday night.

No. 1 vs. No. 2 at The Mill. If you don’t have a ticket, text a friend.

“I’m sure it will be another sellout,” Fishers coach Garrett Winegar said. “No. 1 vs. No. 2 for a sectional championship. There’s not much more you can ask for … other than hoping that game might happen a little further down the road.”

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It will be a sellout. Tickets for the championship went on sale at 10 p.m. Friday night. They were gone 30 minutes later.

The No. 1 vs. 2 matchup in Class 4A Sectional 8 came to fruition after a sellout crowd of 4,200 fans watched No. 2 Noblesville dismantle No. 3 Westfield 71-43 after a stunning 24-0 run that lasted most of the second quarter. In the second game, No. 1 Fishers held off rival Hamilton Southeastern 54-44 in what was a three-point spread with 4 minutes remaining.

Fishers (24-1) won the first matchup over Noblesville (22-2) by seven points, 66-59. But that game was played three months ago. What the Tigers saw Friday from Noblesville looked like a different team.

“They’ve definitely gotten a lead on the teams they’ve played,” Fishers junior JonAnthony Hall said, “and they’ve never looked back. That’s something we really have to hone in on. Because if they get a lead, it’s going to be really hard to come back on them.”

The Boston Celtics might have had a difficult time keeping up with Noblesville on Friday, especially in the second quarter. Westfield (19-3), which won at Noblesville by four points in January, led by five points in the first quarter and took a 16-15 lead into the second.

There was no indication at the tidal wave about to wash away the Shamrocks.

“The first quarter went about how everybody expected,” Westfield coach Shane Sumpter said.

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Noblesville started the second quarter with a 9-0 run, taking a 24-16 lead when Justin Curry dished to T.J. Davidson for a corner 3. Westfield called a timeout with 5:15 left in the quarter. But the run continued, punctuated by an Aaron Fine 3-pointer from the top of the key as he was fouled to make it a 32-16 spread 3 minutes before halftime.

Overall, Noblesville outscored Westfield 26-3 in the second quarter and took a jaw-dropping 41-19 lead into the locker room at halftime.

“It was just outstanding basketball,” Noblesville coach Scott McClelland said. “We really guarded, locked in and made simple plays and we were able to get easy shots. We wanted to make sure took high-percentage shots and shared the basketball. I thought we did a good job of that, and I thought we did a good of not letting (Westfield’s 6-8 senior Nic Book) to get going.”

Hunter Walston did get going for Noblesville, scoring nine points in the first quarter and 16 of his game-high 22 points in the first half. The senior also led Noblesville with seven rebounds. Fine scored 14 of his 18 points in the first half for the Millers.

“We had fire under us,” Waltson said. “We didn’t want to lose to them in the regular season, but this is when it really matters. We played a really good game.”

Charles Farrell led Westfield with 18 points, but Book did not score until late in the fourth quarter and finished with two points after battling foul trouble much of the night. Westfield’s other top scorer, senior Trey Buchanan, was limited to nine points.

“It was just a buzzsaw in that second quarter,” Sumpter said. “We gave them some easy shots, especially in transition and we just could never recover from the second quarter. We picked a bad night not to play our best basketball. But give them a lot of credit because they had a lot to do with it. Noblesville is a very, very good basketball team but we had a tremendous year. It’s a shame only one gets out of this sectional, but Noblesville is very good.”

Noblesville stretched the lead out to 28 to start the third quarter. Westfield pulled as close as 18 points, but the Millers were never seriously threatened in the second half.

“It was amazing tonight,” Fine said of the atmosphere. “I’m going text every one of those guys, everyone I know, and thank them. We need them to bring it tomorrow night.”

The second game was played more to expectations. Fishers could not shake its Mudsock rival, leading just 26-23 at halftime and 35-34 after three quarters. HSE threw different zone looks at the Tigers, slowing the pace slightly and creating some headaches.

“We talked about how this game is always going to be close,” Winegar said. “It just always is. It was about who was going to be the mentally tougher team. They did a few different zones, and we struggled some recognizing what they were in and having a plan to attack it. If you have a week to prepare, maybe you do it a little better.”

Fishers finally got a little distance, taking an eight-point lead on a dunk by Keenan Garner and a dish from Garner to Hall with 5:57 left. But HSE (15-10) came right back to cut it to 47-44 on a layup by Donovan Hamilton with 4 minutes remaining.

The Royals did not score again. Fishers closed the game with a 7-0 run to clinch its bid into the championship.

“We heard all week it was one, two and three,” HSE coach John Ashworth said of the three teams ranked at the top of the 4A poll in the semifinals. “It felt like we were kind of the afterthought. I think our kids were motivated by that and make sure people respect our program. I think that we went out swinging. There were just a few plays in the middle of the fourth quarter there that you probably want back.”

Justin Kirby led Fishers with 12 points and Hall added 10 for the balanced Tigers. Donovan Hamilton led HSE with 15 points in his final high school game before going on to Purdue to play football.

Little time to prepare. Little time to rest. No. 1 vs. No. 2.

At 7 p.m. on Saturday, the Mill will be the place to be.

Call Star reporter Kyle Neddenriep at (317) 444-6649.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: IHSAA basketball: Fishers, Noblesville to meet in Sectional 8 final