Boys basketball: Bowden, Packer fuel Weber’s second-half rally past Fremont in court-storming finish
Free throws cost Silverwolves late on the road for sixth loss
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- Weber High’s Derek Bowden drives to the rim during a nonregion boys basketball contest against Fremont on Tuesday, Dec. 9, 2025, at Weber High School in Pleasant View.
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- Weber High’s Beau Potokar, left, and Derek Bowden, right, close in on Fremont’s Zach Hancock, center, during a nonregion boys basketball contest on Tuesday, Dec. 9, 2025, at Weber High School in Pleasant View.
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- Weber High’s Beau Potokar goes up for a layup during a nonregion boys basketball contest against Fremont on Tuesday, Dec. 9, 2025, at Weber High School in Pleasant View.
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- Weber High’s Beau Potokar focuses in at the free-throw line during a nonregion boys basketball contest on Tuesday, Dec. 9, 2025, at Weber High School in Pleasant View.
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- Fremont’s Easton Hansen walks back onto the floor for the second half during a nonregion boys basketball contest on Tuesday, Dec. 9, 2025, at Weber High School in Pleasant View.
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- Fremont’s Cam Campbell, center, puts up a shot against Weber’s Carson Hill, right, during a nonregion boys basketball contest on Tuesday, Dec. 9, 2025, at Weber High School in Pleasant View.
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- Fremont coach Corey Melaney pictured along the sideline during a nonregion boys basketball contest on Tuesday, Dec. 9, 2025, at Weber High School in Pleasant View.
PLEASANT VIEW — The whistle caught Weber High senior Derek Bowden, powering the home side with a game-high 24 points against nonregion rival Fremont on Tuesday, with his fifth and final foul with just over 1 minute to go.
The senior guard found himself removed from the floor during a one-possession contest with perhaps the most important matchup of the pre-region slate on the line.
Consoling a frustrated Bowden, seventh-year Weber coach Landon Cosby told his starting guard to trust the guys on the court.
One such teammate, junior Creed DeVries — who’d combine with Beau Potokar and Carter Payne for 18 bench points on Tuesday — blocked Fremont sophomore Easton Hansen’s last-ditch 3-point attempt on the game’s final possession.
The true number of court stormings inside Weber’s Richard Conolly Gymnasium is certainly debatable, but the latest came after DeVries’ block and a bit of late free-throw shooting by senior Thomas Packer (20 points).
“They’re a big deal to our community and a big deal to our kids,” Cosby said of Fremont. “Our focus was just to stay calm and trust the practice and the process and stick with it, and we were able to make enough plays down the stretch to win it.”
No, Bowden wasn’t in the picture through the final minute-plus that’d become just Weber’s (2-4) second win of the season, but it allowed him to pour a bit of trust into the guys around him — in arguably the hardest of circumstances.
“He’s fiery in a good way,” Cosby said of Bowden. “He wasn’t happy with it, but I just said, ‘Hey, your teammates will finish this out for you. I get it, but cheer your teammates on.'”
Fremont (1-5) missed numerous opportunities to tie or claim the lead in the waning moments of the fourth quarter.
Moments before Bowden fouled out, Fremont junior Eli Simkins came up on the winning end of a transition steal and nearly knotted the contest with an in-and-out, two-point jumper.
At the line with 31 seconds left, Fremont sophomore Jake Hansen (22 points) split his two free throws, leaving Weber ahead by one. Hansen and Packer split their looks in four total trips to the charity stripe inside the final half-minute.
Nine seconds proved far too little time for a course correction, and Fremont returned to Plain City with a fourth consecutive loss to begin the month.
“Those are five games we’ve had the lead or a one-possession game with a couple of minutes to go, and we can’t seem to get it done,” Fremont head coach Corey Melaney said.
Hansen, big man Zach Hancock (21 points), and Cam Campbell (13 points) led the scoring for the Silverwolves. Calvin Cooper added five points. Kourt Duft and Owen Hibbert chipped in five total points off the bench.
Hansen and Hanock each tallied 12 points before the half, but Bowden’s 16 first-half points kept Weber within five through two quarters. Packer and junior Ethan Sayer combined for eight points in the first quarter alone.
Despite preserving their lead at the break, Fremont’s Hansen-Hancock duo never got back to producing at its first-half rate.
Weber pressed its opponent enough for a 23-15 rise in the third quarter, which featured 3-point buckets from Bowden, DeVries and Carson Hill (five points).
“We wanted to continue going inside, but my main concern was stopping the ball,” Melaney said.
He continued:
“The general penetration, we just never did that. They were able to drive downhill on us and score at the rim. … We’re scoring enough in these games; it’s just our defense, specifically our guards guarding the ball, we’re not doing a good enough job (and) I’ve got to do a better job.”
Weber ultimately outscored Fremont 40-32 in the second half of Tuesday’s win, the second in a row for Cosby’s crew since opening the regular season 0-3 (Springville 81-57; at Roy 65-57; at Viewmont 70-44).
“We were finally able to settle in,” Cosby said. “We kind of token-pressed them a little bit and slowed the game down. We were able to at least get it close before half, and the third quarter was big for us. The kids responded after halftime and made a few adjustments from what we were doing in the first half.”
Asked about Weber’s gap in the paint, Cosby shuffled the roster enough through five starts to where the Ogden native says he has a handle on how to supplement those points.
“I’m happy with the lineup we have,” Cosby said. “Potokar was great off the bench (and) DeVries was good, but that’s just a testament to them of staying prepared and not getting too high or low and then being ready to go when the game comes in. They definitely gave us some good minutes and helped change the game for us.”
Weber stays home for another nonregion contest Thursday against Clearfield.
At Springville on Friday, Melaney hopes Fremont can spin this latest loss positively before embarking on a tough region schedule.
“I hope it means a lot to (them) because this is more than a game,” Melaney said of Tuesday’s outcome. “I know it sounds evil or mean to say, but it’s more than a game, and when you get down it’s a fighting game. That’s a region-type of thing, and an atmosphere that we’re going to play in at some places that are going to be just like that.”
Connect with prep sports reporter Conner Becker via email at cbecker@standard.net and X @ctbecker.
