Ardrey Kell grabs a share of first place in ‘wild’ SoMeck 4A race
Mike Craft said he has a pretty good idea how the rest of the SoMeck 4A boys basketball race will turn out.
“It’s going to be wild,” said Craft, head coach of the Ardrey Kell team that will be a big part of that wildness.
Craft’s 12th-ranked Knights held off host South Mecklenburg 72-69 Thursday night in a game that wasn’t decided until a potential game-tying 3-pointer by South Meck’s Jim Gatehouse hit the rim with one second left.
The victory left both teams at 4-2 in the conference. That’s the same record as two other teams, Myers Park and Olympic.
Yes, it’s a four-way tie for first at the halfway mark of the conference season, and Craft said he’ll be surprised if any team pulls away from the pack.
“It’s a tough league,” he said. “I’ve been doing this for 19 years, and I know that every team in this league has good players, and every team plays hard.”
Down the stretch, each team’s big player stepped up.
Ardrey Kell’s Brett Freeman made two free throws with 22 seconds left, giving his team a 71-66 lead. South Mecklenburg’s Ben Houpt then hit three free throws after being fouled on a three-point shot with 14.7 seconds left. That cut the Knights’ lead to 71-69.
Freeman was fouled with 12.9 seconds to play and made the second of two foul shots.
The Knights slapped solid defense on Houpt on the Sabres’ final possession, preventing him from taking the game-tying shot.
“Houpt is a great player,” Craft said. “He is hard to defend.”
So is Freeman, though.
“He is, essentially, a tall point guard,” Craft said. “He can score in a variety of ways. He can bring the ball upcourt. He can shoot the 3, or he can score from inside.”
Freeman, who finished with a game-high 24 points, said he will do whatever is needed for the Knights to win.
“I can do a lot of things, but we have a lot of players on this team who are skilled,” he said. “That’s what makes us a tough team to beat.”
Another of Freeman’s accomplishments Thursday night was staying in the game. He picked up three quick fouls in the third quarter and was whistled for a fourth foul with 3:53 remaining, and his team up 61-56. Craft took him out of the game for a short time, but Freeman was back on the court for the final 2 1/2 minutes, and he never got the fifth foul.
Ardrey Kell (14-3, 4-2) jumped to a 15-8 lead late in the first quarter, but the Sabres (10-8, 4-2) battled back to within a point later in the period. After that, the game remained tight, although Ardrey Kell led much of the way by a few points.
“We never let them get the lead,” Craft said. “But they never quit coming after us either.
“That’s what I mean about this league. You don’t get a break against any team.”
Freeman scored nine of the Knights’ 20 points in the fourth quarter. Junior guard Matthew Craft, the coach’s son, scored 15 points, and Dylan Morrison added 10.
Houpt led the Sabres with 21 points, and Connor Yett (17) and Muja Williams (13) also scored in double figures.
This story was originally published January 23, 2025 at 11:11 PM.