6A boys basketball playoffs: Fremont struggles from 3 in loss to defending champ American Fork
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- Fremont’s Boston Hadley, center, drives past American Fork’s Kean Webb, left, during a 6A state quarterfinal Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2023, at the Dee Events Center in Ogden.
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- American Fork’s Blake Rawson, left, turns away from Fremont’s David Calvert (25) during a 6A state quarterfinal Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2023, at the Dee Events Center in Ogden.
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- Fremont’s Braden Flinders handles the ball against American Fork during a 6A state quarterfinal Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2023, at the Dee Events Center in Ogden.
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- Fremont’s Hunter Hansen (2) drives against American Fork’s Ashton Wallace during a 6A state quarterfinal Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2023, at the Dee Events Center in Ogden.
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- Fremont’s Hunter Hansen drives during a 6A state quarterfinal Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2023, at the Dee Events Center in Ogden.
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- Fremont’s David Calvert (25) shoots over American Fork’s Aaron Dunne during a 6A state quarterfinal Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2023, at the Dee Events Center in Ogden.
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- Fremont’s Boston Hadley drives during a 6A state quarterfinal Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2023, at the Dee Events Center in Ogden.
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- Fremont faces American Fork during a 6A state quarterfinal Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2023, in this wide view of the Dee Events Center in Ogden.
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- Fremont’s Braden Flinders (3) looks to pass to Boston Hadley (5) during a 6A state quarterfinal Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2023, at the Dee Events Center in Ogden.
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- Fremont’s Hunter Hansen (2) rises to shoot against American Fork’s Aaron Dunne, left, during a 6A state quarterfinal Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2023, at the Dee Events Center in Ogden.
OGDEN — Basketball can be a fickle game, as Fremont High’s boys team learned Tuesday at the Dee Events Center in the 6A boys basketball state quarterfinals.
Four days after an efficient offensive and defensive game in a 17-point home playoff win over Copper Hills, the No. 6 Silverwolves struggled at times in a 57-52 loss to defending state champion No. 3 American Fork.
Fremont (16-8) led a little bit early on in the first quarter, then fell behind the rest of the game amid a lackluster shooting performance that saw the Region 1-champion Silverwolves shoot 39.3% overall.
Fremont shot 6 for 26 (23.1%) on 3-pointers and 16 for 30 (53.3%) on 2s. The loss bookended an 0-for-3 day for Region 1 boys basketball teams in the state quarterfinals despite the state tournament being in Region 1’s backyard.
“You never want to lose, it always sucks,” Fremont senior Boston Hadley said. “We obviously didn’t play as good as we could have. That’s frustrating, but that’s also part of the game sometimes. Shots don’t fall, you don’t play your best, but I’m super proud of my team and these guys, love ’em all to death.”
At risk of letting the game get out of reach early in the fourth quarter, the Silverwolves finally saw shots fall and nearly took the lead amid a stretch where they looked like the better team.
Treyden Hoggan made a couple early 3s in the fourth to help the Silverwolves get within 44-39 on his way to a game-high 17 points. (Hoggan shot 5 of 13 from the 3-point line; the rest of his team was 1 of 13.)
Braden Flinders and Hunter Hansen scored on back-to-back possessions to cut the deficit to 44-43, then Fremont got a stop, David Calvert missed a 3 and AF’s JR Turley made a corner 3 to level the Cavemen out.
From there, American Fork (18-8) managed the game at the free-throw line and on defense. The Cavemen went 11 of 14 at the line in the fourth quarter and 21 for 31 overall, while Fremont shot 2 of 3 at the line overall and those three were shot by Hoggan, who got fouled on a 3-point attempt.
The free-throw disparity was emblematic of both the Silverwolves’ tendency to settle for 3s more than they tried to drive it inside, and the fact they had to play the foul game at the end and send AF to the line.
“We didn’t play our best game obviously, but all in all it’s a one-point game with a little over two (minutes) to go, we got the ball and we still had a chance,” Fremont coach Corey Melaney said. “We didn’t shoot great from the 3-point line, whether that was them or us — it’s a little bit of us; we talked about not shooting so far out, we still did and we missed them.”
Hadley shot 6 of 12 for Fremont and scored 12 points with five rebounds and zero turnovers off the bench. Calvert had nine points and eight boards.
The Silverwolves went 7-5 in single-digit games this year, with one of the losses being a 50-49 decision to the same American Fork back in December.
“That’s a good team. They’re all good teams once you get to this point, you’re just a play or two away, a shot or two away from moving on,” Melaney said.
Connect with reporter Patrick Carr via email at pcarr@standard.net, Twitter @patrickcarr_ and Instagram @standardexaminersports.