No. 1 Fishers makes statement against No. 4 Pike. 'Little bit of fire to us.'

FISHERS – For three quarters, No. 1 Fishers delivered about as clear of a statement as possible against fourth-ranked Pike, especially considering its most talented player was on the bench in street clothes.

The fourth quarter? Well, that is something Fishers’ coach Garrett Winegar can use as motivation in practice. A myriad of turnovers and mistakes against Pike’s full-court press turned a blowout in a relatively close 76-67 Tigers’ win on Thursday night in front of a packed gym.

“I think this game added a little bit of fire to us,” said Fishers junior guard Cooper Zachary, who drained two near-replica shots from just inside halfcourt at the end of the first and second quarters. “Just because everyone is like, ‘Pike, Crown Point, Fishers – who is No. 1?’ It’s kind of a three-way race. So tonight felt like a way to end that talk for one of the teams. And I think we did a good job of that until the fourth quarter.”

Fishers (11-0) led from the outset, going ahead by as many as 13 points early in the second quarter before Pike pulled within five on a basket by Landon Lampley. But the Tigers dominated the final two minutes of the first half, punctuated by Zachary’s 3-pointer from just inside the halfcourt line to give his team a 38-23 lead going into the break.

The shot was remarkably similar to the shot Zachary hit as the first quarter ended.

“I think his percentage right now is better from 45 feet than anywhere else,” Fishers coach Garrett Winegar joked. “He’s got ‘in the gym’ range and he has ultimate freedom from us. He’s earned that. He’s puts in the time. No one works harder than him in the state and I can guarantee that. It’s pretty simple in those situations that he needs to get the ball.”

Fishers carried that momentum into the second half and looked to be on the verge of running away with the game, leading by as many as 22 points in the third quarter and taking a 63-45 lead into the fourth.

Then, T.J. Davis happened. The 5-9 senior sparked the Red Devils (9-2) on offense and defense, finishing with a team-high 20 points and two steals. Pike’s zone press created all kinds of issues for Fishers, which was playing without star junior guard Jason Gardner Jr. for the sixth consecutive game as he recovers from a broken bone in his left hand.

Pike pulled as close as seven points but ran out of time. Fishers finished with a whopping 25 turnovers.

“I feel like that was good for us,” Zachary said of the fourth quarter. “What do we get out of a 30-point win? Everyone on our team probably would have been like, ‘Well, we just beat Pike by 30,’ and get too high on ourselves. But now we can see that even in a big win like that, we still have work to do.”

Ethan Hillsman, a 6-7 senior who just became eligible last weekend, led Fishers with 20 points on 8-for-11 shooting, including a pair of 3-pointers. Senior Kai McGrew added 16 points, 11 rebounds, three assists and three blocked shots and Levi Walker had 15 points and six rebounds. Zachary was also in double figures with 12 points, all on 3s.

“We’re without our one-man press breaker right now,” Winegar said of Gardner. “Honestly, it’s probably on me that I didn’t do more work to prepare for that situation. We have press breakers but we have new guys working in the lineups. We probably did a bad job with that. And we talked about playing with emotion, not being emotional. I thought we went the opposite of that and played emotional.”

The loss came just two days after Pike narrowly avoided defeat in a 48-44 overtime win over Noblesville. In addition to Davis, the Red Devils were led by sophomore Landon Lampley’s 14 points and seven rebounds, Jahari Miller’s 13 points, four steals and four rebounds and Kenneth Lampley’s 10 points and two steals.

Pike had an eight-game winning streak coming into Thursday’s game and had not lost to an in-state team. The only previous loss came to Wisconsin Lutheran, 68-65 in overtime, the night before Thanksgiving.

“That’s a good team and they are playing at home,” Pike coach Jeff Teague said. “That was probably the biggest crowd we’ve played in front of. We’re a young team, but it’s a good experience for them to play a team that’s well trained and like a well-oiled machine.”

Pike will get back to it next week in the Marion County Tournament, opening at Brebeuf Jesuit on Tuesday in the first round. The Red Devils might have found something in the fourth quarter that can carry over.

“We have a lot of work to do,” Davis said. “We’re not there yet. But we’ll get back at it at practice (on Friday). If we played like we did in the fourth quarter, we would have won. But we just started so slow.”

Fishers will play on Saturday against Cardinal Ritter (Mo.) at Highland, Ill.

Other notable games on Thursday

With the Indiana-Oregon Peach Bowl game on Friday, several games were moved to Thursday to make for a busier night than usual. Some of the other games of note:

*Hamilton Southeastern rallied for a 66-64 road win over Lawrence Central to improve to 5-6. Landon Osswald led HSE with 18 points. Luke Weemer added 17 points and Varschon Clark had 15 points, eight rebounds and eight assists.

*Class 4A No. 7 Plainfield defeated Avon 75-36 and Brownsburg knocked off Tri-West 66-45 to set up the Hendricks County Tournament championship matchup for Saturday night at Danville. Plainfield will play Brownsburg at about 7:45 p.m., following the girls’ championship.

*University defeated Scecina 67-63 in overtime, rallying from a 10-point fourth quarter deficit. Josh Henderson scored 17 points to lead four players in double figures for University, which improved to 8-3. Scecina (6-3) was led by 27 points from senior Bryce Mathis.

*Standout sophomore Noah Washington scored 30 points as New Albany rolled to a 79-56 win over rival Jeffersonville.

Call Star reporter Kyle Neddenriep at (317) 444-6649.Get IndyStar's high school coverage sent directly to your inbox with the High School Sports newsletter. And be sure to subscribe to our new IndyStarTV: Preps YouTube channel.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Class 4A top-ranked Fishers delivers statement in win over No. 4 Pike