LOADED FLYERS TO BATTLE AT HIGH LEVEL WITH SODAK 16 IN MIND
Win over No. 2 Viborg-Hurley the start Freeman was looking for
Those who have been paying attention to boys basketball at Freeman Public — even from a distance — know the situation. That a string of long, cold and largely winless winters are finally behind the Flyers and that the program has been slowly but surely climbing its way back to the better years of yesterday.
That resulted in one of the best seasons in recent memory last winter, when Freeman played to a 14-8 record and came an eyelash away from a trip to the SoDak 16. Instead, the Flyers lost a tough battle to Centerville that ended in a 61-60 win for the Tornadoes.
Just wait until next year, many said.
Well, next year is here and eyes are now fixed on a deep, dangerous and generally young squad that features speed, athleticism, the ability to score from anywhere on the floor, and one that hopes to go even further into the postseason. In fact, that elusive trip to that SoDak 16 is the team’s primary goal.
“If you’re looking at end of the year, we want to be in the sweet 16,” said head coach Lance Friesen, who is now in his fourth year as head coach for the Flyers. “And then, at that point, have a good night shooting, lock them down, close out on the boards and give ourselves a shot.”
But Friesen was cautious in the days leading up to the season-opener last week. The fact is, he said, the Freeman boys had yet to win a big game and talk of a state tournament appearance this early is premature, especially considering the strength of Region 4B.
“It got significantly harder,” he said. “Parkston is a very good basketball team. Tripp-Delmont/Armour won 16 games last year and lost one guy, Viborg-Hurley is back, and Centerville is back with most of their roster. Go down the list, our region is fairly deep. We don’t want to look beyond our region at all, because getting to the sweet 16 is an accomplishment.”
But the Flyers took a big first step toward that end in terms of confidence and momentum when they did win that big game last week — an overtime victory over Viborg-Hurley, ranked No. 2 in the preseason Class B South Dakota Prep Basketball Media Poll. Freeman’s 57-54 overtime victory over the Cougars was the start Friesen and Company were looking for, and also raised some eyebrows outside the community; in this week’s poll released Monday night, the Flyers drew some votes for a top five placement; Viborg-Hurley had dropped to No. 4.
Fueling all of this is a deep team up and down the roster that signifies, not a team, but a program. “It feels like a program in that we’ve got 22 kids out for basketball and they’re all competing,” Friesen said.
“We can go four teams of five (in practice) and get after it. That makes it harder to keep everyone happy, but it makes it easier to get the point across that kids need to get better at things, because there’s somebody else there. Competition breeds success, and that’s what we want.”
And the Flyers are young. Of this year’s seven returning letter-winners, three of them — Tayden Kerrigan, Luke Miller and David Walter — are freshman. Two others who will see regular varsity playing time off the bench — Tannen Auch and Oliver Waltner — are sophomores. And the balance of the first nine is rounded out by players who have proven themselves as offensive and defensive threats: Seniors Christopher Aasen and Sawyer Wipf, and juniors Tate Sorensen and Luke Peters.
“There is the win-ever-day mentality, which you have to have,” Friesen said. “Those bigger goals can come and go at times, so you need so stay focused on the present.”
For the time being, that “present” is a much-anticipated matchup against Canistota at home Thursday night, a battle against perennial state qualifier White River in the Corn Palace on Dec. 28 and then a showdown against defending Class B champion Howard on Jan. 3.
