CUPERTINO, CA -- In second round play of the Cupertino Shootout, the Bellarmine Bells easily beat the Los Altos Eagles, 77-53.
The Bells were led by senior point guard Angelo Athens, who ended the game with 14 points, 6 assists, and 4 steals. Athens showed his fantastic ability to move the ball when in the second quarter, he grabbed a loose ball and pushed the transition. Athens then moved the ball to his backcourt partner, Jake Wojcik, who passed up a three and hit Connor Despie in the corner for a wide open three.
“It’s no secret that we have a very gifted open court point guard with Angelo, and his ability to open up other players,” said Bellarmine head coach Patrick Schneider.
The Bells ended the first half up 46-23, but it wasn’t pretty. The Eagles' Matt Eberle was an offensive annoyance, racking up 5 rebounds and 2 assists as well as getting to the basket multiple times but not getting any shots to fall. He found his form in the second half, where he scored 11 points, including a very deep three pointer.
“Bellarmine is a tough team, especially on the defensive end, and I think we have a lot of bright spots from tonight that we can build on going forward,” said Eagles head coach Trevor Naas.
The Bells made “some defensive adjustments” at half according to Schneider and it paid off, as they went on to gain a 20-point lead and work in some substitutes, including Bells starting quarterback Ike Ogbogu, who recorded 2 assists, a steal, and 2 three pointers.
“As we went deeper into our bench, the defense suffered a bit, but those guys got some good experience and can help us moving forward,” said Schneider
Both teams had serious offensive sparks in Kendall Stubblefield for the Bells and Aidan Kelleher for the Eagles who had 13 and 14 points, respectively. Moving forward, the Bells will face Menlo-Atherton and Los Altos will face Half Moon Bay
