It seemed that no shots were going in for the Hoffman Estates Hawks on Dec. 7, which has been a recurring trend for the teams that Fremd plays. The Fremd boys basketball team beat Hoffman Estates 35-14, holding their opponent to only fourteen points, a new Fremd record for fewest points allowed. The previous record was sixteen points, also against Hoffman.

Head coach Robert Widlowski offered a straightforward explanation for the team’s success.

“We did a good job defensively, executing the game plan,” Widlowski said.

It was clear from the start that Fremd was going to dominate, going up 16-2 in the first quarter. Fremd led 9-0 before Hoffman made their first basket. This dominance continued throughout the entire first half.

Widlowski credited much of their offense to fast breaks caused by rebounds when asked about how they found such success against Hoffman.

“Transition offense and rebounding, I thought Kayman Hopkins(junior) rebounded very well,” Widlowski said.

In the second half, there was a glimmer of hope for the Hawks to come back from the 24-6 deficit due to consecutive turnovers from Fremd leading to two transition buckets. However, this effort proved to be in vain as these four points would be the only ones they scored in the quarter. The Vikings would end up outscoring the Hawks in the third quarter 6-4.

Widlowski realized this shift in momentum and discussed it when asked about the team’s performance.

“We got out of rhythm in the third quarter and we’re looking forward to improving this in practice starting tomorrow,” Widlowski said.

Fremd would secure the win in the fourth quarter by outscoring Hoffman 5-4. Junior guard Jake Schoffstall led the team in scoring with sixteen and another notable performance came from Junior forward Kayman Hopkins, who led the Vikings in rebounds with seven and added seven points to that as well.

Fremd’s fantastic performance foreshadows great success, however the Viking know they can’t stay complacent.

“The thing is that no matter what the situation is, we are trying to look at ways to improve so we’ll go back, look at it, and the players have done a good job at recognizing that,” Widlowski said.

Fremd’s future seems to be bright if they can continue their lockdown defense and overall solid play. The Vikings next challenge comes from the Palatine Pirates on Dec. 14 at 7:30pm.

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