Jay Edwards Spotlight Stars: Freedom’s Fletcher Abee working on historic season in Morganton
Late at night or early in the morning when Fletcher Abee admits he often would rather be doing something else, you can usually find the Morganton Freedom senior shooting guard taking shot after shot with his father, Keith, inside the Patriots’ gym.
Abee doesn’t count his overall shots, but instead says he likes to make at least 200 shots every day.
All of late nights and early mornings in the gym have paid major dividends for Abee, who has had a historic high school career.
Just last week, Abee scored 69 points in two Freedom roads wins at Watauga and at McDowell.
Abee started his week with 33 points, five rebounds, two assists and two steals in a 76-53 win at Watauga, Feb. 12.
In the Watauga game, Abee became Freedom’s all-time leading scorer -- passing both his current Freedom coach Casey Rogers (third all-time leading scorer at Freedom as a player) and former Patriots’ guard Chris Moore (a 2004 graduate who played college basketball at Charleston Southern).
Freedom, ranked No. 6 in the Observer’s Sweet 16 poll, also clinched the Northwestern 3A/4A regular season conference title with the Watauga win.
Abee came back three nights later and poured in 36 more points in an 89-42 win at McDowell.
Abee now has a school record 1,755 points for Freedom (24-1), which will play Boone Watauga (13-11) in the Northwestern 3A/4A conference semifinals at Hickory High Thursday night at 7.
“(Becoming the all-time leading scorer) really is a great feeling, because I remember going to all the Freedom games growing up and idolizing the players,” Abee said. “If you would have told me when I was a freshman (at Freedom) that I was going to become the school’s all-time leading scorer I would have never believed it.”
Rogers could have.
“Records are made to broken” said Rogers, in his 13th year as Freedom’s head basketball, who played when Keith Abee (Fletcher’s dad) was a Freedom assistant, including on the 1998 state championship team. “When a kid (Abee) with the kind of work ethic, character and talent is about to accomplish these kinds of these records, you have to be ecstatic. As far as passing me, if I would have known I would have taken him out of the game the play before that.”
While Abee had accomplished a lot coming into his senior year as reigning Northwestern 3A/4A conference player of the year and school’s all-time leading three-point shooter, he had plenty of motivation.
Abee has continued to get better as he is averaging 20 points, four rebounds, three assists and two steals per game this season. His team has won 14 straight game.
And Abee is more efficient than ever, shooting a career-best 55 percent from the field, including 57 percent from the three-point line.
Abee and company hope to carry momentum into the postseason, led by a senior class that has won 95 games in the last four years.
Freedom went to the 3A state quarterfinals his freshman year, the 3A state semifinals his sophomore season, and lost in the second round of the playoffs last year.
“We definitely want to win the state championship and that would icing on the cake for us,” Abee said. “But we know (class) 3A is no joke, and there are a lot of great teams. But our goal is to win it all.”
No matter how deep Freedom goes in the 2019 playoffs, Abee will continue his academic and basketball career at the Citadel beginning this summer.
Abee says playing college basketball is a dream come true.
But Abee is equally excited about the training he will receive as a cadet (military) and the education he will receive, where he plans on studying medicine with the hopes of one day becoming a doctor.
But wherever his academic and athletic careers take him, Abee will always remember his time at Freedom.
“Honestly, there were a lot of times when I didn’t want to go the gym and do all the extra work, but my dad was always there to help push me,” Abee said. “Now, I really enjoy those times with my dad, just the two of us in the gym. I never imagined how much all of the hard work pay off. I don’t think all of what we have accomplished (at Freedom) will settle for a while.”
Raquan Brown, Butler Basketball: The Butler senior averaged 18 points and 13 rebounds in two games last week to help the Bulldogs to key Southwestern 4A wins over Garinger and East Mecklenburg to help clinch a share of the regular season league title.
Brown had 17 points and 14 rebounds in just three quarters of action on his senior night in a 92-51 win over Garinger Feb. 12.
Three nights later, Brown had 18 points and 12 rebounds to help the Bulldogs win 69-56 at East Mecklenburg to clinch a share of the SW4A regular season title.
Brown, a University of New Orleans commit, is averaging 21 points, eight rebounds, three assists and two steals per game for Butler (19-5, 12-2) this season.
Cedrick Patterson, Victory Christian Basketball: The Victory Christian sophomore had a week to remember to help the Kings advance to the NCISAA 1A state semifinals.
Patterson exploded for 35 points in a 101-54 win over Cresset Christian Feb. 14.
Two days later, Patterson hit the game-winning step back jumper to lead Victory Christian to 45-44 win at United Faith. Patterson had 26 points in the victory.
Patterson is averaging 14 points per game this season, but has stepped up recently scoring 21 points per contest in the last 10 games.
Victory Christian (18-11) now advance to the NCISAA 1A semifinals, where they will play No. 1 seed Greenfield School at North Raleigh Christian Feb. 22.
Nathan Dugan, Lake Norman Wrestling: The Lake Norman senior finished his Wildcat career, winning the 4A state championship at 195 pounds to earn the state title meet’s most outstanding wrestler honors at Greensboro Coliseum Feb. 16.
Dugan finishes this season at 55-4 overall for Lake Norman.
Dugan, a Princeton University commit, is ranked No. 10 in the country at 195 pounds, according to flowrestling.org.
Silas Shaw, Mooresville Wrestling: The Mooresville senior finished his high school career in style, capping a perfect 54-0 season with his third 4A state title.
Shaw won the 4A state individual championship at 145 pounds at Greensboro Coliseum, Feb. 16.
Shaw, a N.C. State commit, has 199 wins in his Mooresville wrestling career.
Richard Treanor, Hough Wrestling: The Hough sophomore finished off his perfect, 46-0 season in style by winning the 4A state individual title at 106 pounds at Greensboro Coliseum, Feb. 16.
Treanor, who is now 92-5 in his high school wrestling career, is ranked No. 18 in the country at 106 pounds, according to intermat.com.
Charlotte Latin Wrestling Team: The Charlotte Latin wrestling team won its eighth straight NCISAA state championship in dominant fashion beating the field by 88 points at Asheville School Feb. 16.
Latin coach, David Paige, was led by senior captains Cameron Fletcher (132-pound weight class) and Kase Merman (152), who both won their respective weight classes individual state titles.
Meanwhile, the Hawks also had four state runner-ups in sophomores, Sam House (160) and Jake Mermans (138) and Dean Omirly (195) as well as junior Sam Shumate (285).
Landon Foor, Fred T. Foard Wrestling: The Fred T. Foard sophomore completed a perfect 46-0 season by winning the 2A state individual championships at 182 pounds at Greensboro Coliseum Feb. 16.
Foor won the 3A state title at 170 pounds as a freshman last year.
Foor is now 96-2 in his high school wrestling career.
Jackson Davis, Charlotte Latin Swimming: The Charlotte Latin junior accounted for four different state titles at the NCISAA Division I state championships at Greensboro Aquatic Center Feb. 11.
Davis won individual state championships in both the 50 and 100 freestyle.
Davis also helped the 200 medley relay (with teammates Evan Dorsel, Stephen Kim and Kwame Thornhill) to a state crown, tying the state record with a time of 1:37.04.
Davis also teamed with the same three teammates to lead the Latin 400 freestyle relay to another state title.
The Charlotte Latin boys’ team finished as NCISAA Division I state runner-up.
Charlotte Observer Girls’ Athletes of the Week
Hannah Clark, Kings Mountain Basketball: The Kings Mountain senior scored 40 points in 68-41 win at Crest to become to the all-time leading scorer in Cleveland County history Feb. 15.
Clark, who now has 1,897 career points, has a great chance to also be the first girl in Cleveland County history to score 2,000 career points.
Clark also had 18 points, four rebounds and four steals in a 45-42 win over Forestview Feb. 12 as the Mountaineers clinched the Big South conference regular season title.
Clark, a Wingate University commit, is averaging 21 points, five assists, five steals and four rebounds per game for Kings Mountain (19-3, 13-1) this season.
Brianna Tadlock, East Lincoln Basketball: The East Lincoln senior had a historic week on the basketball court.
Tadlock started her week scoring her 1,000th career point in a 43-21 win over West Lincoln Feb. 12. She had 21 points, 10 rebounds, four steals and four assists in the game.
Three nights later, Tadlock poured in a career-high 41 points with three rebounds, four steals and two assists in a 71-59 loss at Newton Conover.
Tadlock is averaging 21 points, five rebounds and four assists per game for the Mustangs (7-17, 6-8 in the South Fork 2A conference) this season.
Chyna Cornwell, Newton Conover Basketball: The 6-foot-3 Newton Conover junior has double-doubles in all 24 games.
Last week, Cornwell had a monster, 44-point, 27-rebound game to lead the Red Devils to a 72-60 win at Maiden Feb. 12.
Three nights later, Cornwell had 27 points and 13 rebounds to help Newton Conover (20-4, 14-0) defeat East Lincoln 71-59 to win the South Fork 2A regular season championship.
Cornwell is averaging 28 points, 20 rebounds and three blocks per contest for a Red Devils’ squad that has won 19 straight games.
Blaikley Crooks, Freedom Basketball: The Freedom guard averaged 21 points per game as the Patriots (23-4, 14-0) won at McDowell and at Watauga last week to clinch the Northwestern 3A/4A conference regular season crown.
Crooks had 20 points in the 51-40 victory at Watauga Feb. 12.
Three nights later, Crooks poured in 21 points in a 51-35 win at McDowell.
Crooks, who averages 15 points, four rebounds, three assists and three steals per game this season, is being recruited by Lenoir Rhyne and Mars Hill, according to Freedom basketball coach, Amber Reddick.
Aniyah Tate, Central Cabarrus Basketball: The Central Cabarrus junior captain led the Vikings to key South Piedmont conference (SPC) wins at Cox Mill and at Jay M. Robinson to help clinch the league regular season title.
Tate had 22 points, 11 rebounds and four steals in Central Cabarrus 64-45 win at Robinson, Feb. 15.
Three days earlier, Tate had posted another double-double with 13 points, 10 rebounds and five steals to lead the Vikings to a 53-46 win at Cox Mill.
Tate is averaging 16 points, 10 rebounds, four steals and one assist per game for a Central Cabarrus (16-7, 10-0 in the SPC) that has won 11 straight contests after a 5-7 start.
Sarah Barton, SouthLake Christian Swimming: The SouthLake Christian junior won two individual state championships at the NCISAA Division II state championships at Greensboro Aquatic Center Feb. 11.
Barton won the 200 individual medley (2:05.99) before setting a new (NCISAA Division II) state record in winning the 100 backstroke in 56.57.
Barton also helped the Eagles’ 200 freestyle relay to a NCISAA Division II runner-up finish in the same meet.
** Information published today includes statistics through February 17.
Want to nominate an athlete?: Athletes of the week highlights high school players with outstanding performances. The goal is to recognize all athletes in all sports, both the most accomplished and the underrated or underappreciated players. If you want to suggest someone to be included in the Athletes of the week column, send email to Jay Edwards at edwardswork23@gmail.com. Please include the athletes’ name, school, class and applicable game performance statistics. Coaches must be willing to verify information.
