Bellevue East Sports

The Chieftains were able to overcome a hot shooting Rockets squad in OT behind the breakout performance of freshman guard TK Barnett. Barnett was 7/9 from the field (4/6 from 3, 3/4 from the line) for 21pts and also added 1 steal and 1 assist. Four other Chieftains also scored in double figures to round out a great team win.

East held a two point lead after the first quarter. Both teams came out shooting hot, but the Chieftains had a slight advantage behind several buckets from the trio of seniors LaVonte Howard, Gage Dengel, and Joey Skoff.

In the 2nd, Northeast took advantage of East's ball screen coverage to get a couple of open looks at 3 and several easy buckets at the rim and took a 33-27 lead into halftime. They shot 60.9% from the field to East's 46.2%. Skoff paced the Chieftains with 8 points, while Howard had 7, and 3 others had 4 points each.

The Chieftains climbed back into the game behind the efforts of Barnett and Skoff and cut the Rocket lead to 2 points going into the 4th.

East built a small lead as they continued their hot 2nd half shooting, but several late turnovers had given the Rockets the lead. In a frantic exchange as the clock ticked down, Ater Louis fouled on transition dunk attempt and went to the line to shoot 2 with his team down 1, with 6 seconds left. He made the first, but missed the second and after a scrum for the ball, Howard end up getting a tough look at the rim. His shot wouldn't fall and we were headed to overtime tied at 67-67.

Louis won the tip and East took possession to start OT. Northeast came out in a 2-3 zone to keep the Chieftains guessing, but boys from Bellevue executed perfect set to get a nice drive and kick by Howard to TK Barnett for an open 3. The freshman Barnett knocked down his 4th straight 3 point attempt of the 2nd half/OT to give Bellevue East a lead they wouldn't give up. It was the by far the biggest shot of his young career and he drilled it. East out scored the Rockets 11-3 in OT to take the road win in Lincoln.

In a game that saw 12 lead changes and 5 ties, the margin of victory, 78-70 was the largest lead that either team had all night. Along with Barnett's career high 21 points, Skoff led the Chieftains with 23, Dengel finished with 12 pts, while Howard & Louis scored 10 each.

Enjoy the game!

One of the most memorable games from the 2019-2020 season, for several reasons! The Chieftains got a nice win to start a stretch of 6 wins in 8 games. Joey Skoff Explodes for 42 points. And Ater Louis sets a school record for blocks in a game with 9 and falls just short of a triple double.

Omaha Northwest did a good job early of forcing turnovers and converting them into buckets for a two point lead after 1 quarter.

The Chieftains righted the ship in the second quarter behind Skoff and Louis on both the offensive and defensive sides of the floor and took a 4 point lead into halftime.

It was in the 3rd, where the Chieftains separated themselves Huskies. Skoff was scoring from all over the floor and Louis was blocking & changing shots, grabbing boards and finishing at the rim.

East opened their largest lead of 26 at the start of the 4th, before Northwest made a late game surge to end the game at 74-59.

Skoff finished with 42 points on 16-25 shooting (5-9 from 3, 5-6 from the line), 4 assists, 3 rebounds, and 2 steals, while Ater Louis finished with a monster stat line of his own, chipping in 17 points, grabbing 17 rebounds, and swatting 9 shots!

Skoff's 42 points were the second most since the turn of the century trailing only Jarrell Crayton's 50 points scored against Papio South in the 08-09 season.

Louis' 9 blocks was a single game record and helped propel him to break the season record (58) and career block records (74), as well.

The Chieftains turned the ball over too much vs the frantic Husky defense, but held a huge advantage in FG% and EFG% and a small advantage on the boards to pull away!

Enjoy the game!