Rivals on the Court Turn a Friendship Into a Partnership

Area Standouts Wright, Freeman Headed to Hoyas

Austin Freeman, left, and Chris Wright's relationship is one of two teens whose athletic prowess has been apparent for quite some time and who live a few minutes apart. (Katherine Frey - The Washington Post)

Sitting in the bleachers before a game last month, Austin Freeman looked across the basketball court and saw a good friend. So the All-Met guard for DeMatha took out his cellphone and dialed Chris Wright, the two-time All-Met guard from St. John's.

As the schools' junior varsity teams tussled, the conversation between Freeman and Wright was relatively brief and innocent. There was no verbal jousting or gamesmanship. It was just one of the Washington area's top high school basketball players checking in with another one of the area's best players. One Georgetown recruit calling another Georgetown recruit as their teams prepared to meet before a standing room-only crowd at Trinity University on a cold winter night.

"I was just asking if he was ready to play," Freeman said. "And also to say hi."

Next season, they will be teammates. For a few more weeks, however, they are rivals and could meet again in the Washington Catholic Athletic Conference tournament that begins Thursday and concludes with Monday's championship game at American University.

That means while they talk a few times each week and mingle in the same social circle -- occasionally seeing each other at weekend parties, as they did Friday night -- for now, the talk largely steers clear from their games.

"Can't give away any strategy," Freeman, who has helped DeMatha go 2-0 this season against St. John's, said with a chuckle.

In that brief moment of laughter, there is a glimpse into the relationship of two teens whose athletic prowess has been apparent for quite some time and who live a few minutes apart in Prince George's County. There never has been taunting and no discussion of who is the better player. Heck, they've never even played one-on-one.

"We've never had any jealousy of each other," Wright said. "We've respected each other's games. Luckily, we're going to be playing together in college. It should be fun."

Their friendship also played a role in them ending up as future teammates. Freeman committed to Georgetown before last season, then Wright pledged to play for North Carolina State. But when then-coach Herb Sendek left the Wolfpack, Wright decided to reconsider -- and Freeman became a top recruiter, persistently calling Wright to talk about the possibility of finally playing together.

Georgetown is adding a pair of players with a knack for scoring. Wright, a 6-foot-1 point guard, leads the Washington area in scoring at 30.1 points per game. Earlier this season he had nine consecutive games with at least 30 points, and he has scored at least half of the Cadets' points in 15 of 27 games. Freeman, a 6-5 shooting guard who has a stronger supporting cast, averages 22.4 points and helped DeMatha finish first in the conference during the regular season. As good as they are, however, neither is one to draw attention to himself.

"We don't boast about stuff," Wright said. "We're not showy. We just do what we do."

They have similar characteristics. Both have played competitively since elementary school. Wright remembers first meeting Freeman before the two were 10 years old, when Wright played for the Maryland Rising Stars and Freeman for the Bowie Ballcats. They saw each other periodically at various leagues and tournaments growing up and would talk about playing together, but it rarely happened.