NOBLESVILLE – It might have been the first time these instructions have ever been shouted from a coach at a basketball game since Dr. James Naismith nailed the peach baskets to the gymnasium balcony in 1891:

“Don’t dribble!” Matt Johnston shouted to one of his players in front of a frenzied crowd Wednesday night at Noblesville. “Just run with it!”

Johnston laughs when asked later about the interaction. It came right after one of his players, Kuljeet Mehra juuuuust missed a dunk attempt off the back of the rim. “I can’t dribble, coach,” Mehra said with a smile. Then don’t, Johnson replied.

This is Unified sports, maybe the best thing going in high school athletics — certainly the most, well, unifying. Look around the gym at Noblesville, where there are smiles from everyone watching the game. Westfield scores. Everyone cheers. Noblesville scores. Everyone cheers.

“I call it ‘pure joy,’” Johnston said. “Anyone who watches those games, it doesn’t matter if it’s the other team, you are giving high-fives. It’s just about love and bringing everybody together. You watch that game and the students were cheering for both sides. It’s just pure joy to watch them play and they get pure joy out of playing.”

Unified basketball is not sanctioned by the Indiana High School Athletic Association, but treated more as a club sport that offers a window into the sports that are sanctioned — track and field and flag football. The IHSAA partners with Special Olympics Indiana for a “Champions Together” program, which brings together students with and without intellectual disabilities to compete. The IHSAA sanctioned Unified track and field in 2013-14 and flag football in 2018-19.

Johnston, a school resource police officer at Noblesville for 20 years, got involved on the front end of Unified sports. His son, Luke, was a partner for the Noblesville Unified track and field team nine years ago. Johnston started out as an assistant, then took over as the head coach the following year. Noblesville, one of the 13 original schools to offer Unified track and field, won its first state championship in June with 93 schools competing.

Michael Hasch was the athletic director at Noblesville when Unified Sports started and is the senior director for Unified Schools at Special Olympics Indiana. Mitch Bonar, an assistant coach for Johnston who was born with cerebral palsy, stayed involved with Unified sports after it “changed my life” as a high schooler at Noblesville.

Noblesville also offers a Unified cheerleading program for the first time this year. When the Unified basketball team played at halftime of the Westfield-Noblesville boys game Wednesday night, the Unified cheerleaders performed at “halftime of the halftime.”

“The basketball part of it is more of a showcase for us than anything,” Johnston said. “We’re not keeping score or anything but it is a chance for those kids to be part of the school and community and let everyone know what it’s all about. Our school is amazing about including our students with special needs in everything.”

Johnston’s youngest son, Quinn, was on the court Wednesday as a partner for the basketball team. He is also a member of Noblesville's state championship soccer team.

“It’s fun for me to see them so happy,” Quinn said of the athletes on his team. “You see Mo (Ashour) out there dancing and how happy he was just to have that opportunity.”

Mehra, at 6-2, is lean. He is built a like a runner — which he is. Mehra was part of Noblesville’s 4x100-meter relay team, which won the gold at the state Unified meet and set a school record with a time of 48.13 seconds.

Mehra entered the basketball game for the second half of the game against Westfield. Almost immediately, he got the ball around halfcourt, dribbled a couple of times and jumped toward the rim. Mehra grabbed the rim with both hands but the ball slipped away, landing out of bounds.

After receiving Johnston’s “don’t dribble” advice, Mehra had two more chances. The ball slipped away again as he pulled himself up on the rim on the next attempt. On his final try, coming in from the right side, he had plenty of height but could not quite throw it through as the ball bounced off the back of the rim.

He did get one down at Carmel in early December.

“It bounced off the rim,” Johnston said, “and went in. He can do it. The nerves just get to him sometimes. He’s a little shy, though you’d never know it watching him out there trying to dunk. He gets a real joy out of it.”

So does everyone else. Noblesville has one Unified game left, next Friday against Hamilton Southeastern. Johnston encourages fans to come see if he can do it. And even if he doesn’t, the experience is still guaranteed to put you in a good mood.

“I’ve coached football and other sports,” Johnston said. “But this is by far the most fun. Pure joy.”

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

This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Noblesville Unified basketball game is a delight — with dunks