Last year, Freedom’s boys varsity basketball team had an extremely successful season, with a record of 26-6, graduating a lot of talent and winning the Potomac District. The team started this year’s season against Falls Church at the Tip-Off Tournament. The varsity boys team has eight players returning from last year’s team, and added six new additions to their roster. Three additions moved up from last year’s JV team, two transferred from John Champe and one is playing for the FHS basketball program for the first time.
This year’s team consists of all upperclassmen, so experience is not a problem. Lots of players will be stepping up and filling new roles. Captains for the team are junior Robbie Kemmerer, junior Lance Johnson, junior Nick Westfall and senior Matthew Azzouz. Johnson has been with the team since his freshman year and is coming off of a great sophomore season. Kemmerer and Westfall have also significantly contributed to the team, with Kemmerer being an impact player coming off the bench, and Westfall making an impact by starting a couple games for senior Madden Moore when he was out with an injury last year.
During the tournament, FHS led Falls Church 19-6 after the first quarter. Falls Church made the game interesting in the second quarter, cutting the lead down as they tried to mount a comeback. During the third quarter, Freedom was still up by a small margin. In the fourth quarter, Falls Church took the lead, but FHS was able to overcome it with some solid defense down the stretch and was able to capitalize on the offensive end. The final score was 44-41 in Freedom’s favor.
Johnson had 19 points and 9 rebounds, which lead the team and the new additions were able to get valuable minutes. With this win, FHS advanced to play Battlefield.
FHS had previously never won the Tip-Off Tournament until this year, but it got its first championship against a talented Battlefield team who didn’t go down without a fight. The team won by a score of 62-54. Johnson won tournament MVP, and Kemmerer was named to the all-tournament team.
FHS lost against Patriot on Dec. 4, and the next game is vs Tuscarora at home on Friday, Dec. 7 at 7 p.m.
