ABERDEEN — The Freeman Flyers are flying high for the first time since 1975. 

Freeman won its first Class B boys basketball state championship in 51 years on Saturday, outlasting reigning champ Castlewood 61-53 at a rocking Wachs Arena. The Flyers won the long-awaited state title in dramatic fashion, rallying back from a 13-point third-quarter deficit and outscoring the Warriors by 11 points in the final quarter. 

“Remarkable,” Freeman coach Lance Friesen said. “Amazing. The kids were gritty. It’s a little surreal.”

It’s the second state championship this high school season for Freeman, which was part of the Freeman/Marion/Freeman Academy Class 9AA state championship in the fall.  

“Freeman has never experienced something with the football and basketball championships,” said Freeman sophomore David Walter, who logged 22 points and 12 rebounds. “These past couple of years prior we have not been good at football, and basketball as well. Being able to win football and basketball just means everything to me and everything to my teammates. It’s unbelievable.”

The Flyers (24-2) used that championship experience to outlast the Warriors (22-4). But not without a rocky start. Castlewood’s Kamden Keszler tossed in 16 points and hit four 3-pointers to spark a 30-20 halftime lead for the Warriors. 

“I am going to be honest going into halftime I was a little doubtful,” said Freeman senior Tate Sorensen, who had nine points and eight rebounds. “Kamden Keszler couldn’t miss. Props to him. He is a heckuva player.”

Keszler drilled a 3-pointer early in the third quarter, stretching Castlewood’s lead to 33-20 with 7:33 left in the period. It was Freeman’s largest deficit of the night.

“We wanted to keep the ball in front of us, rebound and attack and play with no fear of failure and I thought the first half we were timid,” Friesen said. “They get credit. They were well coached and had a plan. But we needed to attack and be us and have no fear.”

The Flyers flipped the script in the third quarter, outscoring Castlewood by an 18-11 margin. Luke Peters evened up the score on a 3-pointer with 3:20 left. 

“The greatest equalizer in basketball is shooting, and man does the energy fly when you make shots,” Friesen said. 

In the fourth quarter, Freeman’s energy continued with a 23-12 burst to secure the state championship. Will Aderhold drilled a 3-pointer, giving Castlewood its last lead (48-46) with 3:19 left. Peters knotted up the score at 48-48 with 3:07 left. Tayden Kerrigan’s 3-point play gave Freeman a 51-48 lead it didn’t relinquish. 

Peters, who finished with 14 points, described the championship effort as “relentless” said it was a similar feeling as the semifinal game, when the Flyers rallied past Wall. 

“We were down by 10 going into half,” Peters said. “But I have just a bunch of dogs on my team that were relentless and we never gave up. It seemed like as the game went on the fear factor went down. Castlewood being bigger than us and the defending champs maybe intimidated us.”

The Warriors came away with empty possessions on offense, while Walter hit 6-of-8 free throws in the closing second to secure the win. 

“It just feels like my work has paid off for the town of Freeman,” Walter said. “I am so proud that I could share this one with them.”

Walter scored 11 of Freeman’s 20 points in the second half. In the second half, the budding Class B player received contributions from multiple Flyers in the championship game. Peters, Kerrigan, Luke Miller, Sorensen and Waltner combined for 30 points in the second half to help shoulder the offensive load. 

“If we just relied on David we weren’t going to win this game,” Sorensen said. “So it was huge. The threes were huge and the relentless and togetherness was huge. If we didn’t come together that second half we weren’t doing this at all.”

The Flyers also out-rebounded the bigger Warriors, 36-31. Walter corralled 12 rebounds, while Kerrigan (nine) and Sorensen (eight) were also key rebounders.  

“We knew we had to give everything on the boards,” Walter said. “We were outsized by most teams we’ve played all year. We practice rebounding a lot thanks to coach Friesen. We know we have to get those boards if we want to stay in there.”

Aderhold added 10 points and 10 rebounds for Castlewood. Brody Bass added six points and Tyson Manley scored five points. The Warriors were attempting to become the first Class B boys basketball team to repeat since De Smet (2021-23). 

But the night belonged to Freeman, which not long ago went through a 1-20 season in 2021-22. But the Flyers were flying high on Saturday. 

“To bring that program from where it was to this — it is a dream come true and I really mean that,” Peters said. “It’s a dream come true.”