Patriot boys four-peat in host holiday tourney
There’s no place like home for the holidays.
That rang especially true for the Freedom boys basketball team this week as the Patriots claimed their 24th, 25th and 26th straight wins in the friendly confines of Crump-Rogers Gym and followed up their first Freedom Christmas Invitational three-peat last winter with a fourth straight title, besting Asheville Christian, 86-76, in Saturday night’s championship game.
Fittingly, senior guard Bradley Davis put up another monster performance with a game-high 31 points on five 3-pointers and a 5 of 6 performance at the foul line in the game’s final 58 seconds to put the game (in which FHS never trailed) and the tournament on ice
The four-peat means Davis — along with classmates Jayden Birchfield (eight points), Nick Johnson (six), Ben Tolbert (three), Kason Ledford, Keyvon Hemphill, Bryce Griffith, Braeden Lackey and the injured Aidan Pearson never lost a holiday tournament while they were part of the FHS program.
“It just shows how much bigger the picture is for Freedom basketball,” Davis said. “It’s not only about each individual. It’s a lot bigger than that. In practice, we go hard every single day. There are no off days. I think that’s the reason why.”
The Patriots (11-0) also got big-time efforts from a couple “newer” seniors in second-year guard James Freeman and first-year teammate Qualique Garner. Freeman (24 points, nine assists, seven rebounds, four steals, block), the tournament’s MVP, and Garner (double-double with 12 boards and 11 points) both were named all-tournament in addition to Davis.
“It just means a lot,” Freeman said. “All the hard work, all the blood, sweat and tears that we put in on practice days, it’s paying off now. I couldn’t do it without my teammates all the way down the line. You could say anybody’s name and I could tell you how they contribute to it. It’s really just a team effort.”
FHS coach Clint Zimmerman — who claimed his first Christmas tournament title in his first year at the Patriots’ helm — also spread compliments across the board to his players, assistant coaches and student managers.
“To me, it just means so much for those seniors,” he said. “They work really hard. They’ve been a part of some really good basketball teams.”
There’s no place like home for the holidays.
That rang especially true for the Freedom boys basketball team this week as the Patriots claimed their 24th, 25th and 26th straight wins in the friendly confines of Crump-Rogers Gym and followed up their first Freedom Christmas Invitational three-peat last winter with a fourth straight title, besting Asheville Christian, 86-76, in Saturday night’s championship game.
Fittingly, senior guard Bradley Davis put up another monster performance with a game-high 31 points on five 3-pointers and a 5 of 6 performance at the foul line in the game’s final 58 seconds to put the game (in which FHS never trailed) and the tournament on ice
The four-peat means Davis — along with classmates Jayden Birchfield (eight points), Nick Johnson (six), Ben Tolbert (three), Kason Ledford, Keyvon Hemphill, Bryce Griffith, Braeden Lackey and the injured Aidan Pearson never lost a holiday tournament while they were part of the FHS program.
“It just shows how much bigger the picture is for Freedom basketball,” Davis said. “It’s not only about each individual. It’s a lot bigger than that. In practice, we go hard every single day. There are no off days. I think that’s the reason why.”
The Patriots (11-0) also got big-time efforts from a couple “newer” seniors in second-year guard James Freeman and first-year teammate Qualique Garner. Freeman (24 points, nine assists, seven rebounds, four steals, block), the tournament’s MVP, and Garner (double-double with 12 boards and 11 points) both were named all-tournament in addition to Davis.
“It just means a lot,” Freeman said. “All the hard work, all the blood, sweat and tears that we put in on practice days, it’s paying off now. I couldn’t do it without my teammates all the way down the line. You could say anybody’s name and I could tell you how they contribute to it. It’s really just a team effort.”
FHS coach Clint Zimmerman — who claimed his first Christmas tournament title in his first year at the Patriots’ helm — also spread compliments across the board to his players, assistant coaches and student managers.
“To me, it just means so much for those seniors,” he said. “They work really hard. They’ve been a part of some really good basketball teams.”
