It was a historic run for Freedom’s boys’ basketball team this season, but one that eventually came to an end last week when the Patriots fell to Reading 67-65 in the second round of the PIAA 6A tournament.

The defeat wrapped up Freedom’s year at 19-9, but with the elusive District 11 championship in their trophy case this season, the memories from this winter will always be looked back upon with a smile.

“This is the second championship for the program in 44 years, so this group will always go down in history,” said head coach Joe Stellato. “I’ve been coaching 20 years and I have to admit that never winning a title bothered me. It weighed on me, but what this group was able to accomplish this season can never be taken away from them. This season means everything to me and to everyone on this team.”

The Mims’ brother, seniors Caleb and Malek, will also go down in Freedom’s history books as the best brother tandem to perhaps ever share the hardwood at Freedom, as Caleb finished his career second all-time in the school’s scoring list with 1,201 points, while Malek is third on the school’s all-time list with 1,119 points.

It’s not common to have two players, let alone brothers, have historical careers, but they were certainly major contributors toward the Pates championship run.

“I think we you look back at what they’ve been able to accomplish, obviously they’re both very talented players,” said Stellato, “but the one thing they brought this year was a work ethic to every practice that rubbed on everyone. We never moped as a team after a loss and it was because Caleb and Malek always took care of that. This was the best practice team I ever had.”

Stellato acknowledge that the Pates magical year may have had a helping hand from above, as the passing of Nick “Pickel” Ellis mother, Lara, had a massive affect on the team.

Ellis’ mother passed away on February 13 after a battle with ovarian cancer and the team grew even closer following the tragedy.

“When we went through that as a team, it really brought us so much closer,” Stellato said. “We really believed we had an angel looking down on us. A lot of things went our way down the stretch of the season and I think in some ways we had someone helping us with that.”

With the program celebrating their first district title since 1976, this season will always go down as one of the most memorable in Patriot history.

What it can do the program moving forward is now the next question, as the Pates graduate 11 seniors from this year’s class, paving way to an entirely new roster next year.

“We know that we’re losing a lot going into the offseason and we hope that instead of rebuilding, we can become a program that restocks,” said Stellato. “It’s going to be tough because we really don’t know how a lot of these young guys will react to varsity basketball, but they got to see the championship run up close. Some of these guys were at our postseason practices and experienced everything with us. I hope that makes them want to work even harder to get to feel that again.”