Michael Coumont nails five 3-pointers and Freeman stays undefeated

When a team is rated No. 2 in the state and comes into a road game undefeated, it has to know it’s going to get the home team’s best shot. For the better part of three quarters, that’s what happened on Friday between undefeated Freeman and its host Medical Lake, which entered play at .500 for the season.

But a well-timed timeout midway through the third quarter allowed the visitors to regroup, heat up and eventually run away from its host.

Michael Coumont scored 19 points with five 3-pointers, Jackson Clark added 16 and the Scotties (10-0, 5-0) turned a close game into a rout over the Cardinals (4-5, 3-3) 64-35 in a Northeast A matchup.

Freeman coach Marty Jessett knows for the rest of the season league foes will be coming hard after the Scotties, rated No. 2 in 1A by the latest WIAA RPI.

“We definitely take it as a source of pride,” Jessett said of the high ranking. “We have that as a goal – to win (state). We’ve been there the last two years in the championship game and didn’t get it done.

“We know there’s a lot of obstacles and things that we have to overcome,” Jessett added. “But we definitely know that’s our long-term goal.

“It’s a compliment, but it also puts a huge target on us,” he continued. “But we think there’s already a huge target on us anyway. We’ve got high-character guys that really want to get it done this year.”

Of course, these players have already experienced more than their share of challenges.

The reminder of the tragic events of the fall at Freeman HS are constant, as the players took warmups in black long-sleeve t-shirts emblazoned with “Play for Sam” on the front, “Freeman Strong” on the back and the initials SS – for Sam Strahan, the 15-year-old Freeman student killed by a classmate in a school shooting on Sept. 13 – on the left sleeve.

“It’s something we’re dealing with every day,” Jessett said. “It’s never going to go away. It’s brought us closer together. It was a horrible tragedy but our kids are real mindful of what happened. We had a situation last year where our principal had cancer and they played for him and he pulled through and he’s back at full strength now.

“So they’re really trying to bring the community together by playing hard for the community. Bring some joy back, if we can.”

Medical Lake kept it close into early going of the third quarter and trailed 36-28 a couple of minutes after halftime.

Jessett asked for timeout and after the break the Scotties turned it up. Coumont nailed a 3-pointer and then next time down Quin Hopkins hit one from deep. Clark’s put-back on the next possession made it an eight-point swing and Freeman led 44-31 after three quarters, limiting the Cardinals to seven points in the frame.

As the Scotties warmed up, the Cardinals went cold in the fourth quarter. Jimmie Pierce converted a traditional three-point play then hit a short jumper and Coumont came up with a steal and put down a two-handed jam on the breakaway. The pair then hit back-to-back 3-pointers and after a 13-4 run the lead grew to 24 points.

Jessett asked for time again with just under 2 minutes to play and emptied his bench. Medical Lake managed just four points in the final frame as the Scotties cruised to the finish.

The Cardinals came out fired up in front of the home crowd. Jacquez Johnson drilled a 3-pointer to give Medical Lake an early 8-4 lead.

Clark responded with a 3 on the next possession, and Coumont made the first of his five 3-pointers on the night a few moments later. Clark gathered an offensive rebound and followed with a layup, then Coumont hit another from downtown.

Dylan Oja’s short jumper just before the end of the quarter put Freeman up 18-12 after one.

Medical Lake scored on its first two possessions of the second quarter – on a layup by Garren Garza and a short jumper by Skylar Johnson – and trimmed its deficit to two points.

The Scotties proceeded to go on a 12-4 run, punctuated by a layup and jumper in the lane by Pierce, and Cardinals coach Noel Hachtel asked for timeout trailing 30-18.

The Cardinals went on a six-point spurt and got the lead down to six on a layup by Johnson, but Clark scored again from the inside and Freeman took a 32-24 lead into the break.

“It was a pretty physical ball game,” Jessett said. “That’s something we’ve been focused on is playing through contact. They were just trying to be real physical with us and we didn’t respond very well in the first half.

Pierce finished with 12 points and Dylan Oja added 11 for Freeman. Johnson paced Medical Lake with 10 points.