GAME REPORT: FHS BOYS HANDLE WOLVES
At the onset of the season, the Freeman Public boys basketball team set two goals:
- Finish at or above .500, and;
- Win twice in the region tournament and get to the SoDak 16.
The Flyers are one victory away from checking both boxes.
Freeman overcame a slow start and dominated Menno on its home court in the second round of Region 4B action Tuesday night, Feb. 27 to set up a showdown with Centerville on Friday night that would take the Flyers to the round-before-state.
Freeman goes into the game with a 17-7 record and as the No. 2 seed while the Torandoes are 13-8 and the No. 3 seed. The two teams played each other during the regular season and the Flyers won 71-63, although Centerville was without its best player, Alec Austin, who put up 18 points in his team’s 75-55 win over Freeman Academy/Marion Tuesday night.
Flyers head coach Lance Friesen said the ball is going to have to go down for his team Friday night.
“Shooting is the great neutralizer,” he said. “We have good quickness, good athleticism and we overcome our lack of height sometimes with good shooting, and we’re going to need it against Centerville.
“If we don’t get it, we’re going to have to be rugged and learn how to finish inside a little better.”
Friday night’s game will be hosted by Viborg-Hurley and played in Hurley, with tip at approximately 7:30 p.m. The Flyers/Tornados battle will be the second game of the night; No. 1 Viborg-Hurley (16-5) will face No. 5 Gavyille-Volin (10-11) at 6 p.m.
The Wolves finish the season 2-19 and will lose two players to graduation — Isaac Fergen and Hunter Masterson.
Menno will join Scotland on the hardwood starting next season and will play as the Trappers in Class A.
Flyers handle Wolves
While Freeman had little trouble with Menno Tuesday night, it wasn’t a great start for the home team. In the first five minutes of the game, the Flyers turned the ball over twice, missed two free throws and went 0-for-9 from the field. But a field goal inside from eighth-grade sixth-man Luke Miller with 3:05 to play in the first period started the scoring for the Flyers, trimmed the Wolves’ 6-0 lead to 6-2, and ignited a 12-0 run to finish out the quarter that was highlighted by two three-pointers from sophomore Luke Peters, who finished with a game-high 18 points.
“We came out a little nervous and I felt like we needed to grow up, so I didn’t call a timeout,” Friesen said of his team’s rough start. “I thought about it but didn’t; we need to learn how to play through these moments and overcome ourselves, and I thought we played some pretty good basketball after that.”
Indeed, Freeman took its 12-0 run that finished off the first quarter and turned it into a 27-0 run marked by Peters’ third three-pointer of the game that came right in front of a loud Flyers student section with 4:40 left in the first half.
Freeman went into the break with a 35-10 lead and held a 50-19 advantage after the third period, all of which was the result of the Flyers heeding the words of their coach.
“We just wanted to play for each other — play together — and with purpose,” Friesen said. “I remind the guys that energy equals passion.”
In addition to Peters’ 18 points, the Flyers got 15 points from senior Rocky Ammann and eight points and a team-high seven rebounds from sophomore Tate Sorensen.
For Menno, Isaac Fergen led the team with nine points, Hunter Yosten had eight rebounds and Bryce Sattler had two steals.
Freeman’s win Tuesday night comes near the end of what has been a breakout season for a boys basketball program that has struggled in recent years. The Flyers last posted a winning record in 2013 and, from 2019 to 2022, the Flyers’ combined record was 2-61.
But the tide began to turn with a five-win season last year and, after starting this year’s campaign 1-3, a touchstone victory over Bridgewater-Emery on Jan. 4 appeared to break the seal. Freeman won 12 of its final 16 games of the regular season to secure the second seed in region tournament play, all the while playing a regular rotation that includes one senior, two juniors, two sophomores and three eighth graders.
And now the Flyers are one win away from what would be the boys’ first appearance in the SoDak 16 since the postseason changed from a district/region to a region/round-of-16 format in 2018.
“It’s going to be about which team plays with the most passion, which team has developed the most with their habits — and can we play as a team,” Friesen said of Friday’s game against Centerville. “Getting out of the region has been our goal since the start of the season but we knew we needed to win one game first.”
That’s been done.
Now, Friday awaits.
FREEMAN BOX
Luke Peters: 18 points, 3 rebounds, 3 steals; Rocky Ammann: 15 points, 3 rebounds, 1 assist, 2 steals, 2 blocked shots; Tayden Kerrigan: 9 points, 3 rebounds, 1 assist, 3 steals; Tate Sorensen: 8 points, 7 rebounds, 1 assist, 2 steals; Sawyer Wipf: 3 points, 2 rebounds, 1 assist; Chris Aasen: 3 points, 4 rebounds; Luke Miller: 2 points, 2 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal; Tannen Auch: 2 points, 2 rebounds; Dillon Podzimek: 1 rebound, 1 assist; Caden Waltner: 1 rebound; Brody Sorensen: 1 rebound
MENNO BOX
Isaac Fergen: 9 points, 3 rebounds; Bryce Sattler: 6 points, 7 rebounds, 2 steals; Hunter Yosten: 8 rebounds, 1 assist; Izayah Ulmer: 3 points, 7 rebounds; Erick Buechler: 1 point, 4 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 blocked shot; Adam Munkvold: 2 rebounds; Tate Spencer: 1 steal, 1 blocked shot; Hunter Masterson: 1 rebound, 1 steal
