MHT Final Game Report: Millard North vs. Bellevue West

<p><em>Final Score: Millard North 94 – Bellevue West 91</em></p> <p>The final day of the Metro Holiday Tournament provided an instant classic. This was the first meeting between these two schools since Bellevue West defeated Millard North in last year’s state title game, and not a moment of this double-overtime thriller disappointed. </p> <p>Millard North’s [player_tooltip player_id="890479" first="Saint" last="Thomas"] put together the performance of the year, scoring a school record 48 points, making 19 of his 26 field goal attempts. He was efficient, and despite scoring 48 points, it never felt like he forced a bucket. His playmaking was as good as ever, and he piled up 12 rebounds, too. </p> <p>Thomas started quickly, and his teammate [player_tooltip player_id="773443" first="Hunter" last="Sallis"] did as well. Sallis hit a few impressive pullup jumpshots in the first quarter going to his right and left. Millard North had no issue scoring points in this one, but their defense was leaky at times, and Bellevue West pounced on the vulnerabilities with surgical efficiency. Junior big man William Kyle was outracing the Mustang bigs in transition for easy buckets. Some of this was excellent effort by Kyle and pinpoint accuracy and hyper-awareness from [player_tooltip player_id="773431" first="Chucky" last="Hepburn"], but Millard North’s poor transition defense can’t escape some blame. </p> <p>Millard North led by five points at halftime, largely because of excellent shot-making from Thomas and Sallis. The Thunderbirds did a great job of rotating the Millard North defense, getting the advantage with a pump fake and drive or the extra pass. [player_tooltip player_id="1031436" first="Evan" last="Inselman"] was a first half-hero for Bellevue West, hitting multiple spot-up threes.</p> <p>The third quarter is when Bellevue West settled in on offense. [player_tooltip player_id="890468" first="Frankie" last="Fidler"], who had trouble getting shots to fall earlier in this game, began raining in jumpers like we are used to seeing. Sophomore [player_tooltip player_id="1013209" first="Josiah" last="Dotzler"], and athletic wing [player_tooltip player_id="890464" first="Greg" last="Brown"] turned up the defensive intensity and Bellevue West was able to slow down Millard North’s half-court game. [player_tooltip player_id="773431" first="Chucky" last="Hepburn"] had a poor shooting performance, yet dished out 13 assists and showcased his ability to control the flow of the game. </p> <p>These two teams matched each other’s talent and effort as evenly as I’ve seen in a single game, but it was [player_tooltip player_id="890479" first="Saint" last="Thomas"]’ incredible shot-making, and timely contributions from his teammates that ultimately buried the Thunderbirds in the second overtime. Thomas' recruitment is still wide open, and expect his offer list to expand in the coming months. Sallis is a terrific prospect, but Saint is what drives this Millard North team. His ability to impact the game on both ends of the court with or without the ball makes him dangerous in every possible situation.</p> <p>https://youtu.be/dfXdax_EkoM</p>