On Friday Jan. 31, the undefeated Fishers Tigers took on the struggling 6-9 Franklin Central Flashes. While many viewed this matchup as another one of Fishers’ blowout wins, the excitement soon turned into worry as senior guard JonAnthony Hall was missing from the lineup. Some feared that playing without the veteran player could be the piece Franklin Central needed to achieve their first conference win of the season. With 4-star recruit junior Ej Hazelett on the floor, the Tigers would need another player to step up defensively to combat the Flashes attack.
Early lead on the back of Cooper Zachary
Just mere seconds after the game began, sophomore guard Cooper Zachary drained two three-pointers to give the Tigers some momentum early in the matchup. However, after a short timeout adjustment, the Flashes were able to get their starters fired up to finish the quarter with a small three point lead from the Tigers. That is when Hazelett found his stride as he kicked off the second quarter with two back-to-back three-pointers to take the lead back from Fishers.
Turnovers allow for close first half
Small errors such as turnovers in transition and sloppy passes gave a window for the Flashes to take a substantial lead. However, the Tigers maintained solid defensive presence and were able to slow down the Flashes offense. This forced heavily contested shots and allowed the Tigers to capitalize on these errors. While Fishers did have an uncomfortable number of mistakes in the first two quarters, low shooting percentages from Franklin Central’s lineup kept the game close as the first half ended with Fishers leading 32-31.
Hot start in the second half
The beginning of the second half is always a critical point of the Tigers gameplan. Even after a rough half, coming out hot to begin the third quarter would give Fishers an opportunity to run away with the game. And that is exactly what they did. The Tigers began the second half with an exciting 8-2 run before Flashes star Hazelett exited the game with an apparent face injury. While it would not keep him off the floor long, lacking one of their largest players would prove to be an issue for Franklin Central. Sophomore Jason Gardner and senior Justin Kirby were able to effectively attack the lane running up the lead to 13 to end the quarter. Then soon after the final quarter ensued, a technical foul would be called on Hazelett after an excessive foul on Gardner. This call seemed to deteriorate any momentum the Flashes had and gave way for the Tigers to find even more opportunities to score.
Zachary and senior Millen Mccartney combined for a whopping 36 points, all of those points coming from beyond the arc. Their stellar three-point shooting capabilities propelled the Tigers to a 77-53 win. The Tigers’ next game is Saturday, Feb. 1 against the Carmel Greyhounds at home.
