High school basketball: Fremont has big fourth quarter to post win over Syracuse

SYRACUSE — With the game tied heading into the final eight minutes Tuesday night, the Fremont Silver Wolves outscored Syracuse by nine points in the fourth quarter to post a 56-47 victory over the Titans in the Region 1 finale for both teams.

Fremont guard Patrick Fishburn scored a career-high 23 points on five 3-pointers to lead the Silver Wolves, while forward Brock Smith added 15 and center Tate Lewis added 14.

“Patrick Fishburn is a great athlete and leader,” said Fremont coach Corey Melaney. “Along with Brock Smith and Tate Lewis, these guys really stepped up and made things happen for us tonight.”

The fourth quarter was all about free throws for both teams.

Syracuse’s Jared Hall and Brock Anderson each made two free throws, only to be answered with a 3-point play by Fishburn. Fremont took the lead at 41-40 only to have it snatched back with a field goal by Hall. A field goal by Lewis returned the lead to Fremont at 43-42 with three minutes left in the game.

Back-to-back free throws by Lewis and Fishburn in the last seconds of play placed Fremont firmly in the lead en route to the nine-point win.

“Our guys really exploded in the second-half of the fourth quarter — that was the turning point for us,” Melaney said. “We knew we had to be more aggressive and make Syracuse make mistakes.”

The Titans took the first-period lead on field goals by AJ Wilcox, Hall, and Talen Tremea —including a 3-point basket — to finish up the quarter with the 17-12 advantage.

With the Silver Wolves struggling offensively in the first quarter, a quick second-period realignment by Melaney gave Fremont the renewed focus it needed to step up its scoring efforts.

Fishburn started the second quarter on roll from behind the arc by connecting on two 3-pointers.

Halfway through the second quarter, a field goal by Smith narrowed the Titans’ lead to seven points at 23-16, and a Fremont timeout brought one more adjustment to the offensive lineup, and this time the changes connected.

At the end of the second quarter, Syracuse led 31-26.

“Going into the second half, we knew we had to come out tougher,” Melaney said. “Syracuse was blocking our shots, and we needed to bring better pressure in the zone if we were going to pull ahead. Our guys were willing and ready to turn things up a notch, and that’s exactly what we did.”