Undefeated No. 1 Fishers beats HSE 75-65 at the Mill, Gardner returns

Jason Gardner walked back onto the Mill floor midway through the first quarter and finished with a career-high 24 points as top-ranked, undefeated Fishers beat Hamilton Southeastern 75-65 in the Class 4A Sectional 8 semifinal at Noblesville’s sold-out Mill on March 7, 2026. The win marked Fishers’ seventh straight sectional victory and the program’s first sectional triumph with its full lineup available.

Gardner returned from a fractured hand suffered Dec. 19 in a matchup with Hamilton Southeastern, a layoff of 18 games that ended Friday night. He checked in midway through the first quarter and immediately accelerated Fishers’ up-tempo attack, slashing to the basket and forcing HSE defenders to rotate. “Playing against our rival, I mean, that just says it alone,” Gardner said. “Sectional being the first game back, I had probably the most emotion I’ve shown all year, my whole high school career.”

Fishers got balanced scoring behind Gardner: junior Levi Walker added 13 points and senior Kai McGrew finished with 11 points and six rebounds. Sports Yahoo’s recap noted four Tigers finished in double figures, though the available reports named only Gardner, Walker and McGrew. Fishers’ largest lead in the game reached 13 points as the Tigers pulled away in the second half with the deeper rotation available for the first time this season.

Coach Winegar framed the broader challenge heading into the sectional: “Going into sectional as the No. 1 team in the state, undefeated, and your team has never played together,” Winegar said. “Two of your starters have never played together, so it’s a difficult task to get everybody on the same page, which you saw a little bit in the first half.” Senior transfer Ethan Hillsman had sat out the first 30 days of the season; with Hillsman and Gardner both available Friday, Fishers presented its intended starting five for the first time.

Hamilton Southeastern, which entered Friday at 15-10 and riding an eight-game winning streak, looked the part early. Sophomore Varschon Clark buried a buzzer-beating 3 with the first quarter expiring to put HSE ahead 18-17, and senior Jack Jacobs hit a 3 before halftime that the reports say “had the Royals in control” at the break. Senior Luke Weemer led HSE with 17 points; senior Landon Osswald added 13 points and eight rebounds. Clark finished with 12 points.

The Mill’s raucous Mudsock rivalry atmosphere gave the game an early edge-of-seat feel, but Fishers’ depth and the emotional return of Gardner swung the second half. The Tigers closed out a 75-65 victory and advance to the Sectional 8 final with their first full-unit test behind them.