SEEING DOUBLE: Freedom basketball opponents have to deal with high-scoring K. Johnson duo

One is a back-to-back Burke County high school football player of the year. The other saves his legs exclusively for basketball.

One is a left-handed true point guard. One is a right-handed Swiss Army Knife who can play away from the basket or under the basket.

But they are both K. Johnsons, and they are both big-time playmakers who are the leading scorers for a Freedom boys hoops team that is leading its Northwestern 6A/7A Conference in unbeaten fashion.

Both 6-foot-3 junior King Johnson and 6-foot-2 senior Kobe Johnson share something else in common, said Patriots seventh-year head coach Clint Zimmerman, and it has nothing to do with sports.

“What people don’t see except for the teachers and the people in the building (is) the kind of kids they are from 8 o’clock to 3 o’clock,” Zimmerman said. “Fans get to come out and see them showcase on the basketball court some of their abilities. But those two as humans in the building, if they did not play basketball or football or whatever is that they do extracurricular, they would still make the school a better place. That is the best compliment I can give them.

“I can point to Kobe, and I can point to King, and I can bring my own sons in and say, ‘This is how I want you to behave.’ Not necessarily how I want you to play, and obviously they’re great players, so that wouldn’t be a bad thing. But this should be your role model, those guys right there, with how they do stuff and handle themselves outside of basketball.”

The two Freedom stars with similar names are not related by blood, though both say their bond is now similar to a brotherly one.

Kobe had previously shined at Table Rock Middle and was a sophomore in his first season emerging as one of the Patriots’ on-court leaders when King entered the fold as a wiry, raw freshman with high hopes fresh off his success at Walter Johnson.

“Freshman year, he would say I was like a little crybaby,” King said, laughing. “... I think it started like conference freshman year when I started getting in my head and stuff. He’s just been lifting me up ever since.”

Kobe that season averaged 13.4 points per game and was selected to the All-NWC and All-Burke County first-team squads, while King was largely in the shadows waiting for his time to shine.

“It’s grown a lot over the years,” Kobe said of the players’ on-court rapport. “When he came in as a freshman, you don’t know what high school is like. It’s a whole different pace, different speed, strength, height. So, he had to get really used to it. But after that first year, we just kept building on what we already had as a foundation.”

Then last season, King took that leap, supplanting Kobe on the all-county first team with averages of 13.4 points, 3.7 assists, and 1.4 steals per game. But Kobe still did his thing, averaging 11.0 points, 6.1 rebounds, and 1.9 steals and winning MVP honors as Freedom won the NWC tournament for the first time in five seasons.

Now with both players as upperclassmen, they are the 1-2 punch that has lifted the Patriots to their first unbeaten first half of league play since the 2018-19 season at 5-0 in NWC action and 14-4 overall.

They have tossed back and forth the team scoring lead all season similar to how they share the ball on the court, with Kobe’s current 16.9-point average barely leading King, who stands at 16.3 ppg.

King described Kobe as “really relentless. Relentless attacking the basket, relentless on defense, never gives up.”

And while between the two, Kobe on the surface appears to bring more versatility with his ability to play and guard multiple positions, he said that’s exactly what makes King such a threat on the court.

“Being able to be effective in all areas,” is how Kobe described King. “Defense, off the catch-and-shoot. He doesn’t have to have to have the ball in his hands to make his impact on the game.”

Freedom hopes to not only repeat as NWC tournament champs and claim its 20th conference tourney title all-time but also is aiming to complete NWC action with an undefeated mark to earn the program’s 24th all-time regular-season title. It would be the fourth under Zimmerman’s watch and first since 2022-23, when Kobe was a freshman.

“Conference championship, conference tournament championship,” King said, when asked his goals for the remainder of the season. “I’m going for that player of the year. We’re competing for the player of the year.”

“Competing for that player of the year (award) and (for us to be) undefeated conference champs and win the conference tournament,” Kobe added. “That’s definitely the goal.”

Sharing similar heights and abilities, one would assume that Patriot practices might often feature some fierce one-on-one battles between the K. Johnsons. But both said that while they have guarded each other in the past, they’re usually on the same team.

They did disagree on one thing though, namely, how those past matchups have gone.

“Strap,” Kobe said.

“Naaaah,” King answered, cracking a wide smile.