Faith. Resilience. Hard work. Belief.
These core principles define this Mount Paran basketball program which is coming off an improbable run and captivating basketball that keeps you on the edge of your seat. The Eagles won five games in seven days as a No. 9 seed coming into the region tournament knocking off Atlanta International, King’s Ridge, No. 4 Walker, No. 6 Mount Bethel, and No. 10 St. Francis. They knocked off three top 10 teams according to the Score Atlanta final boys basketball regular season rankings.
“I mean, it’s very cliché, but it wouldn’t be us unless it was hard. In the past two years, we’ve had our best player get injured in a program two years ago, a 6-7 kid. He never played a game for us. Two years in a row. Then this year, during the summer, we worked so hard, we ran, we conditioned. We’re almost doing three a days with weights,” said head basketball coach Chuck Frierson. We were shooting at night and then at practice. Then we might have a showcase on the weekend. I just keep telling them all that we’re built for it. I said, there are very few teams that can play this style, do it, and keep up with us. I said, you gotta believe that we can do it. We just keep our faith in it because we’ve been through so many wars playing these big schools and falling short.”
“A lot of people are like, Chuck, why are you scheduling these games or why are you playing these games? Let’s get some wins. I told them that if we want to be great, we have to go against the greatest teams in the state. Regardless of whether we win, lose or draw, we have to go up against them so our boys can believe it. The biggest thing that people don’t see is the kids that are in our program went to our school in elementary and middle school, so they’ve seen how in years past we’ve struggled,” said Frierson. “I used to always say, why are you spending time going to a 6A school on a Saturday night in the gym to see them play in that crowd? It sparked me. I said, all right, instead of going to watch somebody, we’re going to be that team that plays in that environment. So I didn’t care if we won the game or lost the game, but I’m going to put them on that stage, so they can compete. So when they start believing that they can compete at it, now they can believe they can win it, and that’s when things change.”
It has certainly been a season of highs and lows that included a 5-2 start to the season, two three-game winning streaks, a five-game winning streak, and a five-game losing streak from late December to early January. Despite it all the Eagles have maintained their faith and resolve. It all started with trust in their coach to lead them and they never stopped believing.
“I said, look, if we put the work in and just leave it in God’s hands, everything else is gonna be okay. We are not here to be good just for a minute. Let’s get better every day. We had a lot of highs and lows and they just were like all right, coach, we trust you. But the first thing I asked them was, I said, do you trust me? And they look at me like I’m crazy,” said Frierson. “I’m like, no if you trust me, you’ll run through a wall for me because I trust you. It’s all about trust. If they don’t trust you, they’re not going to do it. I wanted to establish that trust. They have to know that I’m going to come in with them at 6 AM. I’m going to get into the weight room with them. We’re going to do skill development. We’re going to do everything together, so then they can be like, okay, he is invested, so I should be invested.”
A key player in their success has been Chris Park who is leading the team in scoring averaging 15.3 PPG and steals with 2.5 per game. One of his best games came against Atlanta International on January 24th when he finished with 20 points and seven steals. He is more than just a scorer and a defender. Park is a consummate leader for the Eagles and has an elite work ethic that is different from the rest.
“His leadership came from him not saying a word. It was his work ethic. In his first game with me on varsity as a junior, I think he had like 31 or 33 points. Nobody at school knew who he was if you didn’t interact with him. So they thought they just assumed it was everybody else. Then they saw a six-foot-one guard. They’re like, Oh, is that Chris Park? I’m like, Nope, that’s not him. They name people in school, and when you see them, they’re like, that’s him? And I’m like, yeah. And then they start saying, well, yeah, that is the same kid that’s at school every morning at 5:15. That is the kid that’s there in the evening at 7 o’clock. He’s living in the locker room, basically,” said coach Frierson.
“He studies, he shoots, and he just leads by example. He’s basically Chuck Frierson and Carlos Wallace and Cedric Jackson and Logan Cranford all in one because he knows the game. He’s a student of the game. He just brings a different dynamic and he’s been a blessing to coach. How many people get a chance to coach somebody that they think outworked them? Like it’s a race. We have practice at 6 AM. He’d get there at 5:15. So guess what his coaches are trying to beat him there. That’s just how he is. He’s that type of kid.”
Asher Wills has been a great defensive piece and continues to get better as the season goes on. Wills is starting to come into his own and become a valuable contributor. He leads the team on the defensive end protecting the rim and his effort on the glass, and has a team-high 1.6 blocks per game and is approaching 50 blocks for the season.
“He’s probably 6’4″, but you want to say he’s 6’2″. Wills has extremely long arms. He’s doing things that in the summer he didn’t think he was going to have to do. We lost two players, and he stepped in, and he just filled that role perfectly. Slim (nickname) doesn’t shy away from the moment, and he’s not afraid of anything. He shoots at a high clip, and he works extremely hard,” said Frierson. “We give our players roles in the summer. If you work extremely hard, you might exceed that role. We’ve had to change his role probably two times because he’s doing a little bit each night and on the defensive end, he’ll wow you because he gets a ton of deflections.”
“He’s in every play and he can guard probably one through five and he’s competing. Against Walker, he kept growing. He just got thrown into it. And as a sophomore, he just, he just is growing game by game by game. The funny thing about Asher is until a couple of weeks ago, you couldn’t really tell because he’s so calm, cool and collected. He gives us something every night that you won’t see on the stat sheet. He’s the eagle of the night. Like that’s my bet at the beginning of the year. Him and Cam Hewling, I think they can do it every night and you won’t even see the points they get.”
Coach Frierson has had a great group of assistants around him that has led to the development of the players on this team, the continued growth on the court, film study, and helping this team achieve its goals. One young player Shane Goines has benefited immensely and is the second-leading scorer on the team averaging 13.5 PPG. Coach Frierson praised them for their efforts and for being a big part of their success.
“I’d be lying to you if I said I knew everything. I’m nothing without them, and I played enough basketball, played 11 years professionally. I could have an ego and be like, hey, I know the game, we listen to me, but no, those guys that sit with me on that bench are a blessing. All of them bring something different from Logan Cranford being young. I coached him in high school. He sees the game at a different speed than some of us,” said Frierson. “Carlos Wallace is the technical guy. He knows film. He sees the game in a different light. Cedrick Jackson sees the game in a different way. I mean, we just delegate and put everything together. I’m nothing without them because a lot of our success is all through preparation and we all prepare. I mean you can’t complain when you get three of the best assistants out there, and I say that to anybody. I don’t care who I get. If I have those three, we are good.”
“Shaine Goines is a gym rat. He is a 15-year-old young man. I can honestly say this year has been a lot of growing pains. When you’re young, they try to push you. They try to bully you, try to make you tougher. Every day I see him mature and grow into the person that he is. Skill-wise, if you sit in one of our practices, Shane can do things on the offensive end that very few people can do period, and he’s growing day by day. He hasn’t even hit his growth spurt. He comes in and he does his job. It’s his maturity over the past month because he’s been one of the unsung heroes when it comes to it. I’m glad he’s in our program.”
Mount Paran knows the work is just getting started for their group as the playoffs will begin this week. However, they are not changing anything different in terms of routine and practice. They will continue to do the same routine when they are winning or losing. Their biggest thing after winning the region championship was focusing on the postseason.
“Our biggest thing right now is to finish the drill. Don’t give me don’t give us 95% Don’t give us 99%. When you prepare for stuff, you won’t go crazy in the game. Being prepared has you ready for all these steps that you’re going through. But when you’re not prepared, you’re going to spaz out in the game and just pray that something happens. No, we do our part and God is going to do the rest. So it’s big on preparation and just finishing the drill,” said Frierson.
“Keep doing the same exact thing we’ve been doing. Don’t change. Don’t scale it. Keep the same routine. Because when we were losing games, we kept the same routine. When we started winning some games, we kept the same routine. Stay on your routine. The boys only know a routine. I just really believe in whatever the moment is, just seize it. We got an opportunity to keep shocking some people. And I love being a hunter. I love being the underdog. I like coming in with a chip on our shoulder. We practice that way. We just prepare. We just have to run through a wall, put it in God’s hands, and know we are going to come out on top.
Mount Paran head basketball coach Chuck Frierson will be in the Score Atlanta studio for an exclusive interview on Tuesday to talk about his Eagles and preview the upcoming playoffs.
Make sure to tune in tomorrow at noon.
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