From understudy to team leader: Muhammed Sabally is a rising star at East High

As a freshman on varsity two years ago, Bettye Davis East Anchorage junior Muhammed Sabally played behind a record-setting group of seniors that established the longest winning streak against Alaska competition in boys prep basketball history.

They served as his mentors and taught him how to be a leader, get stronger and improve his overall game.

“At the end of my freshman year, I didn’t play that much but got in one game at the state tournament and during the summer I’d work out with Damarion (Delaney), Deuce (Zimmerman), and all of them,” Sabally said. “They prepared me because they knew what it took because they went through the same thing as freshmen.”

That mentorship paid off as Sabally led the Thunderbirds to a state 4A title last season as a sophomore. As a junior, Sabally now finds himself taking that leadership mantle as East tries to repeat as state champion.

“He has been a dream to coach,” East coach Chuck Martin said. “He wants to be be good. He’s a really good kid. He’s always there and he’s really provided the leadership we needed. ... He has great ownership in this program and I’ve given it to him because he earned it.”

[From childhood friends to champions: These East High seniors are chasing Alaska basketball history as ‘a brotherhood’]

Despite being a perennial power in both the Cook Inlet Conference and state as a whole, a younger flock of Thunderbirds took a lot of teams by surprise with their championship run last year. They weren’t expected to be back on top that fast after losing all the senior talent from the 2021-22 season, where they saw their record streak snapped at the hands of South Anchorage in the 4A title game.

“A lot of people doubted us but we knew that our team was good,” Sabally said. “Losing those five seniors was a lot but we just had to keep our heads up and push through it.”

He was the catalyst for East’s success in last year’s 4A state title in which it upset top-seeded West Valley which was led by 2023 Gatorade Player of the Year Stewart Erhart. The 6-foot-4 guard recorded more than 40 percent of the team’s point total in the 53-48 victory and was its only player to record double figures with 20 points. He also led them with seven rebounds on his way to earning all-state honors.

[Back on top, Bettye Davis East boys upset top-seeded West Valley in 4A state basketball championship]

“I know what it takes to get to the next level so I try to help the younger guys coming up so they can take (that) step and eventually my role as a leader,” Sabally said.

Martin said Sabally is the latest incarnation of what he believes is a feature of the East program — players taking pride aiding in the development of the younger generation of student-athletes.

“He’s a tremendous kid, a good student, treats people right, and he really loves basketball and wants to get better,” Martin said. “That’s why we get along so well. He is driven to be as good as he’s capable of being from the day he walked in. Mo has been a model of what we need in our program and the way it’s represented.”

Dynamic dual threat with a rare work ethic

Sabally is one of the most well-rounded players in the state and difficult to guard because of the multiple ways he can score.

“I can take advantage of little guys guarding me and if I have a bigger guy on me, I can usually blow past them and go to the rim,” he said.

One of the aspects of his game that he spent a lot of time trying to improve during the offseason was mid-range shooting.

“I don’t really have a mid-range game so I tried to work on that and it’s been getting better,” Sabally said.

Martin attributes the growth in Sabally’s game to the amount of time and effort he puts in to improve it during organized team activities as well as his own time.

He has coached against some of the best players to ever come out of Alaska, including eventual NBA players Carlos Boozer, Trajan Langdon and Mario Chalmers.

A common trait that all of them shared that he sees in Sabally is that he played to his strengths during the season and after evaluating his weaknesses, made improving them his focus each offseason.

“Mo has done the same thing,” Martin said. “He’s obviously one of the most potent post players in the state even though last year he was our point guard. We moved him off the point a little bit this year but there are going to be a lot of situations where he’ll play the point because he is a perimeter player. But I’d put him up against anybody in the post in the state because I believe he is the best post player in the state.”

Thunderbirds title defense is off to a strong start

One of the most satisfying aspects of the team’s title run last season for Martin was being able to accomplish the feat with a bunch of relatively unknown players and underclassmen leading the charge.

“Most of them only had (junior varsity) experience except Mo and Akeem (Sulaiman),” he said. “To make the run we did late just kind of shows what the kids that come to our program will just keep trying to improve.”

The Thunderbirds are off to a strong start having won 10 of their first 11 games including nine straight against Alaska competition with their lone defeat coming to St. Joseph (Santa Maria, California) in the championship game of last weekend’s Alaska Airlines Classic. Sabally couldn’t finish the loss to the Knights due to injury but was back on the court on Tuesday night for East’s 74-34 win over South.

Last year’s team had big shoes to fill and found a way to establish their own legacy in the storied history of the program. As defending state champions, this year team knows there is a target on their back which comes with a different wave of challenges.

“There’s a lot of pressure on us but we just have to stay humble, focus on practice and try to get better,” Sabally said.