By RICHIE HALL
Hamilton County Reporter Sports Editor
The sectional re-match between the
Fishers and Hamilton Southeastern boys
basketball was hard-fought and intense, just
like everybody expected.
In the end, the Royals were able to get
past the Tigers 72-66 in a first-round game
at Class 4A Sectional 8 at Carmel’s Eric
Clark Activity Center. With the victory,
Southeastern advanced to Friday’s semifinals
to take on Anderson, while Fishers
with a 10-14 record.
That record didn’t fool Royals coach
Brian Satterfield. He remembers the regularseason
game between HSE and the Tigers,
in which the Royals needed overtime to win.
“They’re better than their record shows,”
said Satterfield.
The first quarter ended with Southeastern
up 16-12, with the Royals’ senior star
Zach Gunn scoring nine of those points. On
the Fishers’ side, sophomore Armaan Franklin
made his entrance into star territory,
scoring all 12 of the Tigers’ points.
Franklin would eventually finish with 33
points, leading all scorers.
“I thought he was absolutely spectacular,”
said Fishers coach Joe Leonard. “He
got an offer from IUPUI, so people were on
to him. He’s going to be a big-time player
here.”
The Royals led 39-31 at halftime, and
ran their lead up to 12 at one point in the
third quarter. Noah Smith had a solid second
period for HSE, scoring 11 points.
But the Tigers made a run, and tied the
game back up at 50-50 by the end of the
period. Franklin scored another seven points
in that quarter, while Connor Washburn
added six and Jamil Turner-Hall four.
Fishers took the lead twice early in the
fourth period, but Southeastern quickly tied
the game back up both times, and gradually
took control of the quarter. A 3-pointer from
Nick Bowman helped the Royals out during
the period.
“We had some good ball reversals and
got a wide open look in the corner, and
Bowman hits a big 3 for us to tie it,” said
Satterfield, whose team is now 20-5 for the
season. “And then we got a few stops during
that stretch where they came back and tied
it.”
“We came up with some of the loose balls, the rebounds and things like that. But
at the offensive end, we were very efficient.
We sort of got shots that we wanted to from
that point on.”
“Very proud of how they fought
tonight,” said Leonard. “We had played
them earlier in the season and had got down
12 and came back. It’s a group that I would
never give up on because of their ability to
come back.”
Gunn led HSE with 23 points, including
10 in the third quarter. He also grabbed nine
rebounds. Smith added 20 points, and dished
out four assists. Jack Davidson scored 12 for
HSE.
After Franklin’s 33, Washburn scored
nine points and grabbed nine rebounds as
well. Jamil Turner-Hall added eight points
and handed out eight assists.