Basketball Recap: Kris Brown's Big Game Can't Quite Lead Bellevue East over Lincoln Southeast

Bellevue East lost against Lincoln Southeast back in December of 2023 and unfortunately they wound up with the same result on Saturday. The Bellevue East Chieftains took a 63-45 bruising from the Lincoln Southeast Knights. While losing is never fun, the Chieftains can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Nebraska basketball rankings (they are ranked 119th, while the Knights are ranked 26th).

Bellevue East lost despite a true team effort on offense, the best among them being Kris Brown, who posted 13 points. What's more, Brown also racked up four assists, the most he's had since back in November of 2023. Another player making a difference was Joshua Jones, who had four points and seven rebounds.

Even though they lost, Bellevue East was working as a unit and finished the game with 11 assists. That's the most assists they've managed all season.

Lincoln Southeast had a senior duo take command as Mari Shumaker almost dropped a double-double on 17 points and nine assists and Chewy Thoat went 6 of 13 on his way to 16 points and seven rebounds. Thoat's afternoon made it three games in a row in which he has scored at least ten points. The team also got some help courtesy of Prospedi Mukendi, who put up ten points and five rebounds.

Bellevue East dropped their record down to 2-6 with the loss, which was their tenth straight at home dating back to last season. As for Lincoln Southeast, the victory (which was their sixth in a row) raised their record to 7-1.

Bellevue East will venture away from home to face off against Elkhorn South at 3:45 p.m. on January 11th. As for Lincoln Southeast, they and Lincoln Northeast will meet in a classic North v. South matchup at 7:15 p.m. on Tuesday. One thing working in Lincoln Northeast's favor is that they have posted at least 55 points every time they've taken the court this season.