Lake View Chiefs Soar to 2-0 Start in District After Win Over Snyder

SAN ANGELO, TX — The Lake View Chiefs are playing some of their best basketball of the season, and it’s come at just the right time.

With Tuesday’s 49-33 win over Snyder, Lake View is off to a 2-0 start in District 5-4A play.

Lake View has won seven of its last 10 games, and the Chiefs are now 11-11 overall.

Lake View junior Braylon White, who reached the 1,000-point mark for his career in the win, finished with 25 points. 

He scored all 16 of the Chiefs’ points in the fourth quarter to put the game away.

“It means a lot,” said White of Lake View’s start to district play. “We work together as a team, and we’re a family. We work every day, and we don’t get down on each other. We don’t argue or anything like that. We’re just us, a family.”

Lake View raced to an 11-2 lead to start the game, keyed by a pair of 3-pointers by senior Jaiden Salas and one by White.

Snyder rallied back to within 14-12, however, and the Tigers trailed only 26-19 at halftime.

Salas had a breakaway dunk late in the third quarter to give the Chiefs a 33-22 lead heading into the final quarter.

From there, White took over.

He did it with tough layups, putbacks and also sank his third 3-pointer of the night.

“That’s not a shock,” Lake View head coach Courtney Bliskey said of White’s strong finish. “I’m super excited for him. That put him over the 1,000-point mark, and he’s at 1,003 for his career now.”

White has put up all of those points in less than two seasons of work after joining Lake View’s varsity last year as a sophomore.

“It’s crazy,” White said of the milestone. “It’s just hard work, dedication, God, my dad and my mom — all of that has played a good part in this opportunity to ball out and do what I do.”

Salas had eight points, while Nick Leyva had six. The Chiefs finished with eight 3-pointers as a team.

Snyder was led by Daniel Cabrera with 12 points and Michael Escobedo with eight.

Lake View will play again Friday when it travels to play No. 7-ranked Lubbock Estacado in a meeting of the district’s co-leaders. Snyder (6-18, 0-2) will host Levelland in its next game.

Bliskey is optimistic about the Chiefs' potential the rest of the district race.

"Coach (Mark) Arnold has been saying repeatedly over the last 7-10 days how he really likes how we're jelling right now. We're playing really good ball together. And there were some moments in this game where we kind of got out of that and we let them hang around, because we got out of playing together. But once we start playing together, it's pretty nasty," Bliskey said.

"If we keep elevating the way we can and the way we are, we can take a district championship this year. We've got a shot. This team is primed for it."