Freedom makes nine 3s to create breathing room vs. Draughn
Through the first two games of the season, three 3-point basket was only a moderate factor for the Freedom boys basketball team, with 11 total makes.
The Patriots nearly equaled that total with nine 3s in the span of 8 1⁄2 minutes on Tuesday night at Draughn, and that seemed to be the only thing buoying FHS at times as they slipped past the Wildcats 70-58 after trailing 17-10 after a quarter and 26-24 at halftime.
For a team that suffered a bitter loss versus Patton 66-62 on Nov. 17 to open the season and came away with an uncomfortably close 60-58 victory at East Burke on Nov. 21, the 12-point win still wasn’t the kind of showing the Patriots wanted, but at least shots were falling.
“It’s always great to make shots. It provided us with energy,” said FHS coach Clint Zimmerman. “But we’ve got to pride ourselves on more than just making shots. That shot-making ability is not always going to be there. It’s good to see the ball go through, absolutely, but we’ve got to do a better job on the glass on both ends of the floor.”
The fiery shooting streak started just 31 seconds before halftime when junior Braxton King got an assist from classmate Amore Connelly to hit a 3-pointer from the wing to close within five points at 26-21. The same combination led to another wing 3 just before halftime to make it a one-possession game. Connelly found King yet again just 12 seconds into the third quarter for another trey to give Freedom its first lead of the game, 27-26.
King made two more 3-pointers later in the third period, both on Kayden Lytle assists, to make it 36-30 and then 42-30. King finished with 15 points, all on 3s, after coming up empty in the first two games of the winter.
“The biggest thing for me hitting shots is I kind of just stopped worrying about it,” King said. “I just kind of let it fly. We got in a good rhythm there in the third quarter and we just stopped worrying about all the other stuff and played basketball. We played freely and didn’t worry about making it or missing it. We just jelled together very well, and that’s been a big thing for us this week is being more together as a team. I think we took a step in the right direction tonight. It was a big win for us.”
King’s coach praised the effort he puts in that often goes unseen.
“Braxton works every single day,” Zimmerman said. “He was sick (Monday) and still battled through it. He practices and puts a ton of time in when nobody else is in the gym. So, just because he goes through a stretch where he doesn’t make a couple, we still believe every time he shoots it that the ball’s going to go in.”
King added: “After going 0-for-whatever there in the first two games, it feels good.”
The visitors’ ninth and final 3-pointer of the game came when Lytle made an off-balance buzzer-beater with a hand in his face to end the third quarter.
“It was lucky, if you want to be honest, but it felt good to hit,” Lytle said. “It gave us a lot of energy. Our shooters were finally shooting the ball in this game, so we just had to feed them the rock and let them keep shooting it. When we get in a rhythm, we’re really good because we’ve all got the energy together and our shooters are looking to shoot the ball.”
In fact, Lytle’s 3 was the only one for the Patriots (2-1) on the night that was unassisted. King took three dishes from Connelly and two from Lytle. Elijah Davidson’s 3 to make it 30-26 in the third also came on a Lytle assist, and Connelly’s drained a pair to make it 33-28 and 39-30 off assists from Davidson and King.
“Sharing the basketball is always important,” Zimmerman said. “I thought we did a pretty good job of that tonight.”
In addition to King’s double-digit effort, Connelly led the game with 24 points, with all of that production coming in the second half. Davidson (eight points), Kobe Johnson (seven), Lytle (five), Max Taylor (five), Gavin McNaughton (four) and King Johnson (two) rounded out the scorebook for the visitors.
The Wildcats (0-3) remained winless, but got strong performances from D’Andre Moore (20 points), Eli Tillery (13), Blake McElyea (11) and Ethan Miller (11). Blair Cooper (two points) and Connor Houston (one) also scored for DHS.
Justin Epley can be reached at or .
Get in the game with our Prep Sports Newsletter Sent weekly directly to your inbox! * I understand and agree that registration on or use of this site constitutes agreement to its user agreement and privacy policy .
