The Fishers boys basketball team won its own invitational this past weekend. The Tigers beat New Albany 81-60 in the championship game on Saturday, Jan. 3. (Joshua Herd)
By RICHIE HALL
FISHERS – There was nothing stopping the Fishers Tigers at their own invitational this past weekend.
Ethan Millsaps made his debut for Fishers during the Tigers’ invitational. He scored 45 points over the three games. (Joshua Herd)
Class 4A No. 1 Fishers easily won three games to claim the trophy at their tournament for the second consecutive year. The Tigers overwhelmed Fort Wayne Wayne 99-53 in a Friday, Jan. 2 first-round game, then took care of unbeaten Evansville North 72-36 in the Saturday, Jan. 3 morning semifinals.
Fishers beat New Albany 81-60 in the championship Saturday evening to earn their 10th win of the season. The undefeated Tigers used small runs during the first half to take a comfortable lead by halftime, then kept the momentum going in the second half.
Fishers coach Garrett Winegar said the Bulldogs are “one of the fastest teams in the state, as far as what they do transition-wise on offense.” In order to handle that, Winegar said his team was making sure on every shot the Tigers had what’s called a “short safety and a long safety.”
“We had two guys getting back, three guys crashing and containing them and making it be a half-court game,” said Winegar. “We try to play that way, too. We wanted to make sure on their end, on offense, they had to work and score in the half-court. I thought in the first half, we did an excellent job of that.”
New Albany led twice during the game, holding its last lead at 7-6 midway through the first quarter. The Tigers went on their first run after that, an 8-0 spurt and never trailed again. Kai McGrew made a dunk as part of that run.
Fishers made another 8-0 run early in the second period to lead 24-11. Cooper Zachary drained the first of his five 3-pointers in that spurt. Many of the triples he hit were from well beyond the 3-point line.
“When you have a guy who’s broken the school’s all-time career 3-point record three games into his junior year, I’m willing to give him some freedom on the shots he takes,” said Winegar. “And he also gets that freedom because of how hard he plays. For me, if you play defense hard every possession and do what we ask on the offensive end, there’s going to be some freedom there.”
The Tigers led 38-19 at halftime and 61-43 after three quarters. Zachary finished with 21 points, one of four double-digit scorers. Levi Walker and McGrew each scored 16 points.
Ethan Hillsman added 11 points for Fishers. He made his Tigers debut during the tournament, scoring 21 points against Wayne and 13 points against Evansville North.
Hillsman, a senior, played for the Tigers as a freshman, then attended other schools before transferring back for his senior year. After waiting out 30 days, Hillsman immediately made an impact.
“The team culture is great,” said Hillsman. “We go hard in practice, super high-IQ guys. Kind of feels like a family to be honest.”
Fishers’ Cooper Zachary made 13 3-pointers during the tournament. (Joshua Herd)
“Obviously, he has a lot of talent, a lot of potential and he has been able to practice the whole time,” said Winegar. “He’s been practicing, I was getting him game shape and getting him used to playing with these guys.”
Hillsman’s 21 points led Fishers over the Wayne Generals; he was one of four double-digit scorers. The Tigers led Wayne 61-23 at halftime, so the entire second half was played under a running clock.
Tristan Breland scored 19 points, while Walker hit three 3s on his way to six points. Zachary nailed four 3s and also finished with 16 points.
Evansville North was 7-0 coming into its game with Fishers, but the Tigers were in control for the entire contest. Fishers led 38-17 at halftime. The game reached running-clock status by the third quarter, which finished with the Tigers leading 61-26.
Zachary and McGrew both scored 14 points, with Zachary again making four 3s. Hillsman contributed 13 points.
Fishers hosts Pike on Thursday. The game was moved up a day in order to accommodate Indiana University football fans who will be cheering for the Hoosiers as they play in the Peach Bowl on Friday.
