ROGERS -- Malacio Freeland passed the eye test.
Freeland has been playing basketball since he was 3 years old and when he moved to Rogers from York, Penn., after his eighth-grade year to start school, the Rogers High junior knew few of his classmates.
Malacio Freeland
School: Rogers High
Class: Junior
Position: Guard
Height: 5-7
Notable: Leads the Mounties in scoring with 15 points a game after playing on the junior varsity team last season. … Is shooting 36 percent from 3-point range. … Scored 32 points against Fort Smith Northside Tuesday.
But he knew he wanted to continue to play the game he loves.
So, the 5-foot-7 Mounties guard asked Rogers freshman basketball coach Gerald Walsh for a tryout.
"I remember very well the Monday morning he walked in," Walsh said. "He didn't look the part at all, but he was very insistent that he could play. The team was pretty well set, but, of course, I was going to be fair and give him a chance. I think everyone is glad I did."
"I guess I passed the eye test for him," Freeland said.
After having three projected starters move away in the last year and then losing another starter to a season-ending injury, Mounties coach Wayne Herren was looking for players to step in and fill the void.
Freeland has done just that.
He did not log any time with the varsity team last season, but Freeland has emerged as the Mounties' leading scorer. He is averaging 15 points a game this season and he upped that average by a point in just the last two games.
Herren said the best way to describe Freeland is to call him a gym rat.
"Malacio has just got better every year," said Herren, who is in his third year at Rogers and ninth year overall as a coach. "I will say this about Malacio, he may be the hardest working kid I have ever coached. He puts in the time in the gym, working on his shot, working on his ball handling until 7:30, 8:00 p.m. It is not a surprise he is having the success that he is having. He has worked for it. I think he will be the first one to tell you that he has a lot of room for improvement."
And that improvement is coming fast.
Freeland had his best game in a Rogers uniform on Tuesday with 32 points in the Mounties' loss to Fort Smith Northside. He kept Rogers in the game with 16 points in the third quarter and finished shooting 12 of 16 from the field and 4 of 4 from the free-throw line.
Freeland said scoring 18 points in the Mounties' preseason benefit game was a big confidence booster.
"With the guys we lost, I felt I had to step up and play the role they would have played," Freeland said. "I just try to take good shots for my team, and make the best plays possible. I shoot when I am open and I try to get my teammates involved."
Herren said he has coached just a handful of players that have had a better shooting night than Freeland did against the Grizzlies.
"Malacio was very efficient the other night," Herren said.
Rogers has struggled since the start of 7A-West Conference play, but Freeland said the Mounties are making strides.
"Since dressing with the varsity last year and starting this year, I am 0 and 18 in this conference," Freeland said. "It's not a great feeling. We haven't got over the hump yet, but it will come. We need to play good defense, be persistent and we will start to hit shots. We are going to do that and that will be a big day."
Paul Nielsen can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter @NWAPaul
Sports on 01/23/2015