East High boys basketball’s quest for a three-peat started well before the season

The most dominant high school boys basketball program for the last half decade has far and away been Bettye Davis East Anchorage. The Thunderbirds have appeared in the past four 4A state championship games, claimed three titles, including each of the last two, and haven’t lost a game to an in-state opponent since March 2023 in the Region IV championship.

Establishing a standard of excellence doesn’t happen overnight or by chance, according to Thunderbirds head coach Chuck Martin.

“What we’ve accomplished the last six years is due to all of those kids and the commitment to doing what good teams do,” he said. “It doesn’t just happen.”

Every team Martin has coached during his tenure at East has been dedicated to honing their craft, but he sometimes thinks this year’s group loves spending time together practicing too much.

“I almost worry about burnout with this group because we just spend so much time in the gym,” Martin said.

Just two weeks after successfully defending their 4A state title this past spring, the players were back at work training together three times a week during the offseason.

Even though the Thunderbirds will be favored to win against every in-state opponent they go up against this season, they’re taking a one-game-at-a-time approach.

“We’re not thinking about that, we’re only thinking about ourselves,” senior forward and team captain Deng Deng said. “We’re not thinking about a championship, we need to work on being the best version of ourselves.”

As two-time defending state champions, the team is aware of the inevitable target on their collective backs.

“We know everybody is against us,” senior guard and team captain Muhammed Sabally said. “We’re just going to work hard in practice every day and keep our mindset. We know how good we are and we’re just going to try to show it every day.”

Every recent iteration of the East team has different strengths. Last year, the Thunderbirds were a strong defensive team.

“It really carried us late in the year and we were always able to score enough points,” Martin said. “I think this (year’s) team can score, but are we as tough?”

Losing Akeem Sulaiman to graduation was a huge blow because Martin believes he was “one of the best defenders this state has ever seen.”

“He could guard one through five without exception,” Martin said. “In all the big games the previous two years, Akeem shut down the other team’s big man. I worry that we may not be as tough physically as we could be because Deshawn (Rushmeyer) and Laron (Roberts) gave us so much up front, but outside of that, I think this team will develop its own identity and we’ll just keep trying to get better.”

Thunderbirds are already flying high into the new year

East officially began it quest to win the program’s third straight championship, and fourth in the past five years, last Thursday with a overwhelming 82-26 victory at home over Mountain City Christian Academy in which non-starters played in the fourth quarter.

“We just came out and tried to execute and it felt good getting the win,” Sabally said. “The three-peat starts now from the first game all the way to March.”

Deng is one of the players stepping into a larger role this season. He scored 27 points in just three quarters of action in the team’s season opener against Mountain City.

“I hope that’s what people see in our program, that kids from one year to the next develop,” Martin said. “That’s what good programs do is develop kids to where they’re better in some phase of their game the next year.”

The aspect of Deng’s game that he and his coaches worked on in the offseason was his shooting, and it showed against Mountain City as he knocked down a pair of 3-pointers along with some other field goals.

“I don’t think anyone was afraid of him shooting last year,” Martin said. “We let him shoot and he’s got to earn that right from the way he practices.”

As gifted as Sabally is as a scorer, his head coach believes his best trait is his willingness to be selfless in a game where the best players can sometimes be selfish.

“We emphasize team play and Mo has been the epitome of someone who is willing to give up some part of his individual game to benefit the team,” Martin said. “You’re talking about the 4A state player of year who averaged 14 points a game last year, four rebounds and four assists. But when you watch Mo play, you get a sense of who this team is built around, who runs this team, and he’s always going to show up when the chips are all pushed in the middle of the table.”

While a lot of other teams in the Cook Inlet Conference and around the state opened their seasons by taking part in tournaments, Martin purposely schedules the Thunderbirds’ season opener as a stand-alone home game before the new year so that they can have as many recent alumni in attendance as possible.

“Last year was the biggest crowd, but they all look forward to coming back and we always talk to them,” he said. “They mean a great deal to me. They built the foundation of this program six years ago and I think every group that comes along feels some pressure, and they should feel pressure from these guys to play as hard and work as hard and be as coachable as they were.”