Two long time Burke County rivals squared off in an early-season matchup Tuesday night.
And while Freedom High and East Burke are no longer conference rivals, their boys’ basketball games remain intense.
After 10 ties and 10 lead changes, the Patriots won a battle of attrition and picked up a road win by outslugging the Cavs 68-58.
The teams combined for 44 fouls, including 27 in the second half.
Already shorthanded with the loss of starter Jacob Young due to a broken arm, East Burke had several key members in foul trouble most of the night and had three starters foul out, leaving only one reserve on the bench by the end of the game.
“We just ran out of gas,” said Cavs head coach Jon Hancock. “We had players with foul trouble and a starter sitting on the bench in the first half. We just ran out of gas.
“(Freedom) played very well, very hard, but we didn’t execute and they had a lot to do with it.”
Freedom (2-0) took a 15-11 lead after the first quarter as the Raymond Beam controlled the inside game for the Patriots. In the opening quarter, Beam had six points, six rebounds and a steal.
“I thought he was an animal on the glass tonight,” said Patriots head coach Casey Rogers of Beam, who finished with 14 points and 11 rebounds before fouling out. “He was relentless and that was big early for us. We were kind of in a funk early on offense, but he was just relentless on the glass.”
Beam’s work on the glass helped the Patriots to a 41-25 rebounding advantage.
A key sequence came early in the second quarter. With the Patriots up 16-11, the Cavs’ Trever Hyatt picked a loose ball foul near midcourt. Hyatt also was charged with a technical foul and spent the remainder of the half on the bench with four fouls.
That seemed to energize East Burke (1-1), which went on a 15-2 run to take its largest lead at 26-19 with 2:31 left in the half.
But Kris Gardin (17 points) hit two jumpers to help the Patriots forge a 30-all tie at halftime.
In the third quarter, the teams traded the lead six times. Point guard Clay Byrd (17 points) took over the offense for East Burke with seven points in the quarter before running into foul trouble. With 36.2 seconds left in the quarter and East Burke ahead 43-40, Byrd picked up his fifth foul on a charge.
From that point, Freedom ramped up its pressure defense and forced two turnovers. Gardin responded with a 3-pointer and Darrion Evans (16 points) closed out the quarter with a jumper to give the Patriots a 45-43 lead.
The Patriots forced the Cavs into eight turnovers in 13 offensive possessions and took five offensive rebounds to build a 61-51 lead with 2:02 to play. Freedom made 7-of-9 free throws in the fourth quarter to seal the game.
FREEDOM 59, EAST BURKE 44
Jmani Williams had 12 points and Tyra Kirkpatrick chipped in 10 to lead the Patriots (2-0) to a victory over the Cavs (1-1).
With the game tied 17-all early in the second quarter, the Patriots went on a 19-4 run to build a 36-21 advantage. Erica Phillips hit two 3-pointers to help spur the charge.
The Cavs managed to cut it 51-42 with 3:24 to play, but Sarah Youmati and Kirkpatrick each hit layups and Freedom hit 5-of-6 free throws down the stretch to put the game away.
Sydney Haas and Bailey Gragg each had 10 points for the Cavs.
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