Fishers tops Homewood-Flossmoor in Indiana-Illinois boys basketball showdown
O’FALLON, ILLINOIS – Fishers (Indiana) boys basketball Garrett Winegar doesn’t understand why standout senior Keenan Garner hasn’t received more attention from Division I college coaches.
Garner earned game most valuable player honors after he scored 20 points, grabbed 11 rebounds, dished out five assists and recorded two steals to lead the Tigers to a 78-57 victory over Homewood-Flossmoor (Illinois) at the Bank of O’Fallon Shootout on Saturday night at O’Fallon High School.
Afterward, Fishers’ coach questioned the lack of scholarship offers for his talented 6-foot-6 senior with a strong all-around game.
“I think everybody in Indiana knows now but, while I’m here, the fact that Keenan Garner only has two Division I offers blows my mind,” Winegar said. “I thought that dude dominated the game tonight the way he played – shooting, handling, passing, finishing at the rim. I thought he was super-impressive with what he did tonight.”
Garner went into the game with offers from a pair of Illinois schools – Eastern Illinois and nearby Southern Illinois-Edwardsville – but showed out against a talented Homewood-Flossmoor squad that includes top junior prospect Bryce Heard.
Among the college programs in the gym on Saturday night were coaches from Boston College and Lindenwood University in Missouri. They got to see Garner take over in a much-anticipated matchup between the top-ranked schools in Indiana and Illinois.
Fishers (18-1), which got 12 points from junior guard JonAnthony Hall and 11 from senior guard Taden Metzger, has been the No. 1 team in the SBLive Indiana Power 25 basketball rankings for much of the season.
The Homewood-Flossmoor Vikings (24-3), who were boosted by Heard’s transfer back home after a year at Montverde Academy in Florida, have been near the top of the SBLive Illinois Power 25 rankings for much of the season and recently ascended to the top spot after knocking off previous No. 1 Curie.
The Tigers from Indiana took control of their matchup early on Saturday night and rolled to an impressive 21-point win.
Garner scored 12 of his team’s 24 points in the first quarter as Fishers jumped out to an early 24-15 advantage.
“We took a lot of time to prepare, watched a lot of film on the way up here,” Garner said. “We really had to emphasize coming out to a hot start because they have a lot of explosive players on their side. Once we got that lead, (we knew) they were going to go on runs so we had to go on runs back and answer their runs.”
The Tigers led 40-28 at halftime and 60-48 after three quarters before pulling away in the fourth.
Fishers knocked down 11 3-pointers in the game – six different players made 3’s – and that helped the Tigers not only get off to a hot start but also keep it going.
“A lot of guys came out and hit shots for us,” Garner said. “Taden Metzger got pretty hot. Cooper (Zachary) had, I think, 17. So a lot of people. They just open up the floor and driving lanes – being able to knock down a few shots really opened up the floor.”
Winegar was happy with his team’s performance, particularly with a quick turnaround after playing for a conference championship on Thursday night.
“Credit to our guys only having one day to prepare and really being locked in on what we were trying to do,” the coach said. “I don’t think we did a great job on 30 (Carson Brownfield) – we wanted to keep him from going left and I think he dropped 20 on us – so he did his thing. But overall I thought we did a pretty good job. They shoot it. They’ve got a lot of guys who can shoot. We did a great job on our closeouts and a pretty good job of keeping them in front of us. You’re going to get beat sometimes just playing against great players. I thought our help-side (defense) was good and overall I thought our team defense was really good tonight.”
Carson Brownfield, a senior swingman, led Homewood-Flossmoor with 20 points after scoring 12 in the second half.
Heard, an explosive 6-6 junior guard with offers from Oklahoma State, Georgia, Arkansas, Kansas State and many more Power-5 schools, added 19 points, including 14 in the second and third quarters as the Vikings tried to rally back. Senior guard Gianni Cobb, who is headed to Columbia University, scored 13 points.
Winegar said the road trip to O’Fallon, roughly four hours away from Fishers High School, was probably the longest trip his team has made. He was pleased with how his group responded to it.
“This would be the first time probably in school history that we’ve went this far,” Winegar said. “Our furthest trip we’ve probably made is like Fort Wayne, an hour and a half, two hours (away). I thought to make that road trip this morning, go to the hotel, be able to get off the bus and get locked in and play the way we played I think that’s a testament to these guys’ character because it would be really easy to be lackadaisical and they were not.”
Fishers (Indiana) - Homewood-Flossmoor (Illinois) boys basketball
Photo by Nate Latsch, SBLive Sports
Photo by Nate Latsch, SBLive
Photo by Nate Latsch, SBLive Sports
Nate Latsch, SBLive Sports
Photo by Nate Latsch, SBLive Sports
Photo by Nate Latsch, SBLive Sports
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- Nate Latsch | latsch@scorebooklive.com | @SBLiveIN
