How Fishers overcame loss of one of the country's best players to reach IHSAA state title.

FISHERS — A question often asked this high school basketball season: “How does Fishers, after losing one of the top players in the country to a prep school, improve enough to become the top-ranked team in the state?”

Or some semblance of that question, anyway. In June, Fishers was clearly one of the top teams in the state. The Tigers, coming off a 14-12 season but returning their top five scorers, including star junior Jalen Haralson, were expected to be state championship contenders. But in July, the five-star prospect Haralson announced he was transferring to La Lumiere.

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Fishers, based on that information, might have been relegated from a 4A favorite to outside contender. But it did not happen that way. Fishers (28-1) sent a message in the season opener with a 13-point win over defending 4A state champion Ben Davis (23-5), the same team the Tigers will meet in Saturday night’s championship game at Gainbridge Fieldhouse.

“I think both of us have gotten a whole lot better,” Fishers coach Garrett Winegar said. “It’s going to be a heck of a state championship game.”

This season has been a series of big tests for Fishers, especially in the tournament for a program that had never won a sectional championship since the school reopened and became sectional-eligible in 2007.

“We’ve gotten a lot more mature in handling big moments,” said senior guard Taden Metzger, who shot 6-for-12 from the 3-point line in the Tigers’ 66-52 win over Kokomo in front of 8,500 fans in the regional at New Castle. “Especially last year and early this year, when there is a packed crowd and emotionally charged game, it’s been hard to get into what we do. As we’ve been going into sectional, regional and semistate, those big moments have felt normal, almost.”

Last year, Fishers was 0-4 in overtime games and 2-6 in games decided by five points or less. This year, the Tigers are 1-0 in overtime games (a dramatic 66-65 win over Center Grove) and 5-0 in games decided by five points or less, including a 49-47 win over No. 2 Noblesville in the sectional championship in front of a sellout crowd of 4,200 on the Millers’ home court.

That win, especially the way the game finished — a pass from freshman Jason Gardner Jr. to senior Parker Perdue for the game-winning layup in the final seconds — put Fishers’ biggest strength on display. Midway through the fourth quarter against Noblesville, Justin Kirby drilled a 3-pointer — his third of the game in three attempts — to give Fishers a four-point lead.

Those three players rank fifth (Gardner Jr.), sixth (Kirby) and ninth (Perdue) on the team in scoring, respectively, but made arguably the biggest plays of the season in the toughest game.

“When we were at Warren Central, we talked about expecting to win and what it means to expect to win,” said the 31-year-old Winegar, who was an assistant for three years and head coach at Warren Central in 2019-20 before coming to Fishers. “Part of that is you do the work. But also once you start winning, something happens within the program. We felt it when we were there. Hopefully that can continue with our program for years to come.”

But why have the Tigers been able to turn the corner this year? It does not really make sense after losing a player the caliber of Haralson, who averaged 23.4 points, 7.7 rebounds and 3.9 assists as a sophomore, leading the Tigers in all three categories. But the Tigers’ balance this season, which can be attributed to player development from the returners and the addition of a pair of freshman guards, has been the perfect mix.

It starts with 6-6 senior Keenan Garner, who is averaging a team-high 15.6 points and 8.2 rebounds and is second on the team at 3.5 assists per game. Garner, who is shooting 59% from the field, has Division I offers from IUPUI, Bradley, Eastern Illinois and Southern Illinois-Edwardsville. Garner was a relative unknown going into last year. He had been living on a military base with his parents in Kaiserslautern, Germany, for several years before relocating to Indiana for his father’s job.

“It definitely started to grow on me,” Garner said of living in Indiana.

Garner was basically an undersized center as a junior. He played his role well but has expanded to play with the ball in his hands more as a senior.

“It was just about playing hard and giving energy at that position,” Garner said of his role as a junior. “I was a little undersized, but I felt like I was a good fit to do that.”

Garner might miss the Döner kebabs of Germany (meat with sauce and vegetables wrapped in bread, if you wondered), but the move to Fishers has been good for him and the Tigers. His improvement into an Indiana All-Stars caliber player helped fill the void left by Haralson. But it is about more than one player.

“Even when Jalen left and people doubted us, coach (Winegar) still scheduled the games that we had (previously),” said junior JonAnthony Hall. “He prepared us this whole year. We played in some crazy atmospheres. … Credit coach Winegar for believing in us and knowing we could still handle business. I think that’s one thing we have over a lot of teams is that we’ve played in a lot of big environments.”

Hall, like Garner, is another player who has developed with another year of experience. The four-star wide receiver prospect had a solid year as a sophomore but has been better playing off the ball a junior, basically as a do-what’s-needed offensive player who can guard the opposition’s best player at any position.

Hall is averaging 11.3 points, 3.8 rebounds and 2.9 assists per game and shooting 64.5% from the field. Metzger picked up where he left off last season, averaging 8.8 points and shooting 43.4% from the 3-point line. If there was a 3-point contest for high school players, Metzger might win it. Though another teammate, junior Millen McCartney (5.3 ppg, 43.8% 3-pointers) might give him a battle.

Kirby, a 6-3 junior who averages 5.8 points and 2.1 rebounds, also developed into a role. Kirby played junior varsity as a sophomore, scoring 23 points all season on varsity. He performed in the clutch against Hamilton Southeastern in the sectional (5-for-5 for 12 points) and against Noblesville.

“He’s a true testament to what it means to stick the process,” Winegar said. “Eighth grade year he was on the ‘B’ team, freshman year he played freshman ball, sophomore year he started out on JV. I told him in eighth grade that his junior year he was going to have a breakout year and be a Division I player. I got lucky it all came to fruition but his confidence continued to grow and he never wavered in his preparation and his willingness to trust the process. I’m super proud of him.”

Another junior, 6-6 Nathan Baker (2.7 ppg, 2.0 rebounds), has had big moments. And the story is certainly not complete without the freshman guards, Gardner Jr. (6.4 ppg, 2.2 assists) and Cooper Zachary (7.5 ppg, 3.6 assists, 40.9% 3-pointers). The freshmen, due to their lack of experience, were wild cards coming into the season.

“Seeing how poised and mature they were in those big moments, I have all the trust in the world in those guys at the end of games,” Garner said.

It does not always have to be the freshmen, though. Or Garner. Or Metzger. The beauty of this Fishers team is that it can be anybody on a given night.

“With the way last season went, I think we had a chip on our shoulder,” Hall said. “With or without Jalen, I thought we played great in the summer. We knew we had big potential with him. When he decided to leave, all we could do was congratulate him. But that takes nothing away from us. One year of us not being able to achieve what we wanted just made us motivated so much more. You can see the change in everybody.”

Call Star reporter Kyle Neddenriep at (317) 444-6649.

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: How Fishers overcame Jalen Haralson transfer to reach IHSAA finals