HOWARD — Fredericktown’s picture-perfect boys basketball season added a bit of hardware to it on Friday night.
The Freddies rolled to a convincing 57-49 victory at East Knox to clinch the outright Knox Morrow Athletic Confernce crown.
Fredericktown improved to 19-0, 13-0 in the league. The Bulldogs fell to 5-16, 3-11,
Fredericktown coach Derek Dibling said his team knows its part of something special.
“They knew it (the championship), we talked about it, about how rare it is to win the conference four years in a row,” Dibling said.
“The seniors have been a part of that for four years. Not too many people can say that they have been a part of championship-level basketball for four years.”
Fredericktown grabbed control of the contest at the end of the first period.
Junior Carson Rinehart popped a 3-point shot from the top of the key and senior Tanner Estep hit another trey, adding a couple of free throws. Fredericktown’s 3-point target shooting and a two-minute plus scoring drought by the Bulldogs gave the visitors a 17-8 first-quarter lead.
East Knox pulled within 30-24 at halftime, but by the end of the third quarter, Fredericktown had built a 42-30 lead. Zane Luckmeier’s bucket pushed the bulge to 46-31 and senior Blake Sipes thundered home a dunk to put the game away.
Bulldogs coach Ryan Powell noted that his team battled to the buzzer.
“You’re not supposed to give up, I would have been upset had we given up,” Powell said.
Dibling said East Knox was able to control the pace, keeping the Bulldogs within striking distance throughout the contest.
“We just struggled to get up and down the way we normally do it,” he said. “We didn’t seem like we had much energy, but they had every reason to get up for the game being a league game and the championship on the line, you never know, it’s hard to figure out 17- and 18-year-olds sometimes.”
Luckmeier led the Freddies in scoring with 21, followed by Rinehart with 14.
East Knox also put two players in double figures, Peyton Hull with 17, followed by Kyson Miller with 13.
On February 21 the Bulldogs will host Northridge.
Fredericktown has an intriguing non-conference game on Feb. 17 when its hosts Colonel Crawford (18-1 and 13-0, Northern 10 Athletic Conference).
“Every team is different and we try to focus on what they do well and what we do well and try and take away what they do well,” Dibling said. “Essentially, we have this weekend to get ready for them on Tuesday.”
(Photos by Dan Werner)
