Fishers tops Parke Heritage in battle of unbeatens

FISHERS – The experience gained playing the top team in the state will far outweigh Parke Heritage’s first loss of the season.

Class 4A, No. 1 Fishers remained unbeaten Tuesday in a first-ever game against 2A, No. 1 Parke Heritage, 60-38.

The Wolves (6-1) used a 7-2 run in the final 90 seconds of the second quarter to cut Fishers’ lead to 25-17 at the break. But the Tigers never let down their defensive intensity and used a strong third-quarter performance to push the lead to 18 points by the end of the third quarter.

Even without top prospect Jason Gardner Jr. (21.3 ppg, 5 apg), who broke his left hand in Fishers’ win over Hamilton Southeastern on Friday, Fishers improved to 66-2 over its last two-plus seasons. The Tigers, now 7-0, won the 2024 state championship and lost to Jeffersonville in the 2025 championship game.

“They are relentless. It is truly remarkable,” said Parke Heritage head coach Rich Schelsky. “A lot of credit to coach (Garrett) Winegar and their players, they have a tremendous program and great athletes and they have all bought in, and that’s the beauty of it. With a school this big and with this much talent and the success they’ve had, it could be really hard sometimes to get guys to buy in playing that hard.”

Schelsky wanted the challenge for his squad and there is no greater challenge on the hardwood right now than Fishers. Parke Heritage won’t play a more talented team this season, even this weekend in the First Financial Bank Wabash Valley Classic at Terre Haute South.

“Our guys are not used to (that defensive pressure) for 32 minutes,” said Schelsky. “They are used to it for 3-4 minutes and then somebody on our team gets 3-4 buckets and it opens things up and then we are rolling. (Fishers) can check us one-on-one and can really guard and we definitely faltered in that area.”

To pull off the upset, the Wolves needed to survive the first quarter. That was a struggle. Fishers scored the first 12 points of the game while running the offense through six foot, nine-inch senior Kai McGrew in the low post.

McGrew had six points, one rebound and one steal in the opening eight minutes and Fishers’ speed and athleticism helped forced six Parke Heritage turnovers.

The Wolves finally got on the scoreboard more than six minutes into the game on a Carter Crum layin off an assist from Isaac Pickel.

Fishers led 14-2 at the end of the first quarter. The lead grew to 23-10 following a Tristan Breland steal and score and a McGrew free throw.

Treigh Schelsky, an Indiana Junior All-Star last season, missed his first three shot attempts but finally connected on a three-pointer with 68 seconds to go in the half to spark the Wolves.

McGrew answered at the other end, scoring off an offensive rebound – one of five he had in the game. Crum and Pickel scored on back-to-back possessions to end the half with a little momentum.

“When we did get settled down and run some offense, in the first half early in the game they had us discombobulated. We didn’t get into any of our stuff,” said coach Schelsky. “We are used to scoring on one or two passes.

“The few times we got into our stuff right before the half, into our zoom action, Treigh hits an open 3. Next time down we got a two-man side action, a little ball screen action where Brenden (Goins) hits Carter on a roll for a bucket. That looked like us but there were only a couple possessions like that.”

Parke Heritage hit 7 of 10 shots in the second quarter but faltered in the third, making just 1 of 6 and committing five more turnovers.

“We got guarded like nobody will guard us this season with the exception of that rescheduled makeup game with Ben Davis,” said Schelsky. “We don’t see that every day. Our guys are used to being a lot more open and getting open a lot easier. … I think there are a ton of things from this game that we can take and watch on film and it will make us better.”

Fishers’ starting guards took over in the third quarter. Jean-Claude L’Homme (seven points, one steal) and Cooper Zachary (five points, one steal, one assist, one rebound) combined for 12 points, doubling Parke Heritage’s output for the quarter.

The Tigers led by 18 at the third break and pushed the lead to 24 points early in the fourth quarter.

McGrew finished with a game-high 19 points and seven rebounds. L’Homme had 11 points, four assists and five steals. Zachary scored all 12 of his points in the second half and added three assists and two steals.

Crum topped Parke Heritage with 14 points. Pickel finished with eight points, 10 rebounds and four assists. Schelsky had nine points.

Fishers outscored Parke Heritage 31-2 in the second quarter of the junior varsity game to cruise to a 63-26 win. Michael Smith and Damon Patton each scored eight points for the Wolves.

Parke Heritage closes out the 2025 portion of the schedule with the 16-team Wabash Valley Tournament. The Wolves open against Greencastle (4-1) Friday at 4 p.m. The game can be heard on GIANT fm Sports 104.9 WAXI and with the Listen Live button on the Parke County Post.

The Wolves would then face either South Vermillion (0-6) or West Vigo (3-3) depending on a win or loss in their opener.

Also in the field are Class 2A, No. 6 Linton-Stockton (5-1), Edgewood (4-1), Class A, No. 4 Bloomfield (5-1), Cloverdale (4-2), Terre Haute North (2-3) and Class 3A, No. 3 Northview (5-2).