Yahoo Autos Logan Imes scores 33 — 12 straight — to lead Zionsville by Fishers, gets Noblesville next
CARMEL – There are times when it’s obvious who steps up and rallies a team to victory. Other times, it’s not as apparent.
Such was the case at the Class 4A Sectional 8 semifinals at Carmel High School on Friday.
In the nightcap of the doubleheader, Zionsville’s Logan Imes left no doubt who rallied his team to a 59-53 victory over. In the opener, Noblesville received a spark from a pair of unsung players to help the Millers pull out a 47-45 win over Westfield in the opener.
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The two winners each avenged regular-season losses to earn their spots in Saturday night’s championship game. Zionsville (15-8) last won a sectional title in 2019, while the Millers (18-6) will seek their first title since 2010. Noblesville won the regular-season meeting, 37-35, on Jan. 13.
Imes scored 33 points, including all 12 during a 12-0 spurt spanning the late third and early fourth quarters, rallying his team from a nine-point deficit that spurred the Eagles to the win.
“I didn’t know that,” said Imes of the spurt, “but that’s pretty cool. I knew I had to be aggressive. It’s my senior year and you can’t leave anything out there.”
While the experienced player led Zionsville, it proved to be a freshman and a sophomore (each of whom didn’t score a point) that were credited by Noblesville coach Scott McClelland for rallying the Millers from a 12-point deficit in the second half.
“It’s easy to recognize (leading scorers Luke) Almodovar and Aaron (Fine),” McClelland said, “but (freshman) Justin Curry and Terry Davidson provided a huge spark for us. They provided great hustle and made some defensive plays that were huge.”
Noblesville, which fell to the Shamrocks, 48-43 on Dec. 16, trailed the entire first half and found itself in a 32-20 hole after Westfield’s Durante Morton converted a lay-up with 5:42 left in the third quarter.
“We told our kids at halftime, we were getting bullied,” McClelland said. “We told them they were challenging your character and we needed rise to that challenge.”
From that point, the Millers responded by turning up the defensive pressure. Noblesville forced six Westfield turnovers during the third quarter to cut into the Shamrocks’ lead.
Almodovar, who got into foul trouble early in the game and had only three points at halftime, began to warm up in the second half. His dunk with 4:20 left in the game tied it at 38-38.
During the final minutes, the score was tied at 41-41 and 45-45 before Fine provided the winning points at the free-throw line with 33.4 seconds left.
From there, Westfield had two shots to tie or take the lead, but couldn’t convert.
Almodover finished with 19 points and Fine had 15. Sam Bishop led the Shamrocks (16-8) with 17 points – 13 in the first half.
In the nightcap, Imes staked the Eagles to an early, 12-6 lead before the Tigers finished the first quarter on a 10-2 run for a 16-14 advantage. Fishers (which finishes 14-12) eventually built a nine-point lead in quarter two and still led, 46-37, after two Keenan Garner free throws with 2:03 left in the third.
That’s when Imes stepped up, scoring the game’s next 12 points.
“When Logan is in a rhythm like that, I’m glad he’s on my side,” Zionsville coach J.R. Howell said. “That’s pretty impressive what he did. We have more balance and he does what we need to win. That’s meant sacrificing points sometimes, but he’s capable of something like this, too.”
When the Imes spurt was over, Zionsville held a 49-46 lead. Fishers tied it at 49-49, but consecutive baskets by Jackson Tielker and Nick Richart gave the Eagles a lead it didn’t relinquish.
The game proved to be nearly opposite of the 52-45 Tigers win over Zionsville on Feb. 17. The Eagles held 41-31 lead after three quarters only to lose.
“We made winning plays tonight,” Imes said. “When we played before, we didn’t make any. That (12-0) run sparked us, and we started getting defensive stops.”
Tielker added 11 points to go with Imes’ total, while Garner led Fishers with 18 points – 14 in the first half. Zionsville held 6-7 sophomore Jalen Haralson to 17 points after his 33-point performance in Tuesday’s sectional opener against Hamilton Southeastern. Haralson had 22 points versus Zionsville previously.
NOBLESVILLE 47, WESTFIELD 45
NOBLESVILLE (47): Terry Davidson Jr. 0 0-0 0; Luke Almodovar 8 2-4 19; Aaron Fine 5 3-4 15; Cooper Bean 2 0-0 5; Justin Curry 0 0-0 0; Aiden Brewer 0 1-2 1; Hunter Walston 3 0-0 7. TOTALS: 18 6-10 47.
WESTFIELD (45): Trey Buchanan 1 5-6 7; Will Harvey 1 0-0 3; Sam Bishop 7 1-1 17; Seth Laravia 1 0-0 3; Durante Morton 4 1-3 9; Alex Romack 1 4-6 6. TOTALS: 15 11-16 45.
Noblesville 4 14 13 16 -- 47
Westfield 11 16 7 11 -- 45
Three-point baskets: Noblesville 5 (Almadovar, Fine 2, Bean, Walston), Westfield 3 (Harvey, Bishop 2); Total fouls: Noblesville 17, Westfield 14; Records: Noblesville 18-6; Westfield finishes 16-8.
ZIONSVILLE 59, FISHERS 53
ZIONSVILLE (59): Logan Imes 10 10-11 33; Drew Snively 1 0-1 2; Jackson Tielker 4 0-0 11; Nick Richart 3 1-2 7; Maguire Mitchell 2 2-2 6; Edward Thomas 0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 20 13-16 59.
FISHERS (53): Taden Metzger 1 0-0 3; Millen McCartney 1 0-0 2; Jalen Haralson 7 2-2 17; Aidan Zimmer 1 0-0 3; JonAnthony Hall 2 3-3 8; Keenan Garner 5 6-7 18; Grant Haworth 1 0-0 2. TOTALS: 18 11-12 53.
Zionsville 14 16 14 15 -- 59
Fishers 16 20 10 7 -- 53
Three-point baskets: Zionsville 6 (Imes 3, Tielker 3), Fishers 6 (Metzger, Haralson, Zimmer, Hall, Garner 2); Total fouls (fouled out): Zionsville 9, Fishers 14 (Hall); Records: Zionsville 15-8; Fishers finishes 14-12.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: IHSAA basketball sectionals: Zionsville, Noblesville advance to final
