'He's fun to watch': Appleton East senior Joey La Chapell is scoring at a record pace
APPLETON – It’s not entirely accurate to say Joey La Chapell has been a walking bucket for the Appleton East boys basketball team this season.
That’s because you’ll rarely find the high-energy, always-hustling floor leader for the Patriots doing any walking on the court, whether it’s a game, a practice or in one of his many individual workouts.
But make no mistake about it, the 6-foot-1 senior guard is a bucket.
La Chapell is averaging 25.8 points per game for the Patriots, which is tops among Fox Valley Association players just ahead of Zay Mitchell of Oshkosh North (25.3).
And with a free throw late in Friday’s overtime loss against Hortonville, La Chapell became the all-time leading scorer in the history of the Appleton East boys program.
He finished with 22 points against the Polar Bears, then added 36 points in a 79-70 nonconference win over Pulaski on Saturday.
La Chapell eclipsed the scoring record of former teammate Caleb Glaser, who is a freshman on the Hillsdale College roster, and has 1,244 career points heading into Tuesday night’s game at Appleton North.
“I wouldn’t say it was a goal,” La Chapell said of the record. “I would say it was more of a team achievement because everyone has helped me so much. My dad’s always said points is more an achievement of how hard you work. I’ve never really set goals for how many points I want to score in a game or how many assists or whatever. It’s always just showing off all the work the whole team has put in and what I’ve worked on so far.”
Scoring pace picks up in recent weeks
La Chapell has been a consistent scorer all season — he scored 38 points against Fond du Lac on Dec. 1 — and has been held under 20 points only five times.
Over the last eight games, he has raised his output to 32 points per game and done it against some of the state’s best programs. He scored 28 against second-ranked Stevens Point, 30 vs. Kimberly, 43 vs. eighth-ranked Kaukauna and 35 against FVA-leading Oshkosh North.
La Chapell has been efficient within the offense, shooting 52.1% from the field and 79.4% from the free throw line. He’s also shooting 37.1% from beyond the 3-point arc while averaging a shade under 17 shots per game.
“I just take what the defense gives me,” he said. “I’ve always had a saying, ‘The defense can never be right.’ However they play me, that’s how I’m going to try to score. Sometimes I’ll put up seven 3s a game or some games I’ll go to the rack. It’s just kind of reading what the defense gives you.”
La Chapell, who also leads all FVA players with 5.6 assists per game and is averaging 4.2 rebounds, was quick to credit his teammates for putting him in position to score.
Turner Botz, in his second season as head coach of the Patriots, said La Chapell’s teammates “definitely look for him” and help out by setting screens and getting him the ball on time.
La Chapell has been able to take it from there.
“He doesn’t really take bad shots. He can put them up in a hurry. He can get hot fast. He’s definitely dangerous. He’s fun to watch,” Botz said.
Hard work leads to better production
Joe La Chapell, who coached the Appleton East girls basketball team for 11 seasons before stepping down after leading the Patriots to the Division 1 state championship game against Kettle Moraine in 2022, is an assistant for the boys team.
He said his son’s recent surge in scoring is no accident. Always a tireless worker in practice, in the weight room and on his own, the senior has finally learned how to better pace himself so he’s fresh on gamedays.
That work ethic was obvious to Botz from his first day as head coach.
“If you talk to any of our coaches, any of our guys in the program whether it’s kids on the varsity team, JV or freshman team, the one thing they’ll tell you about Joey is he leads from the front. He’s the first one in the gym at the start of the day. He’s the last one to usually leave. He invests his time in our kids,” Botz said.
“I couldn’t have anything more to say in terms of being positive about Joey and the things that he does for our program. It’s second to none for sure.”
Scoring record stays in the family
While La Chapell can lay claim to being the best scorer in the history of the boys program, he has no chance of becoming the all-time scoring leader in school history.
That record belongs to his sister, Emily, who scored 1,885 points in a four-year career for the Patriots and is now playing at Belmont University after one year at Marquette.
“I think it’s really cool. It’s pretty unique, obviously,” said La Chapell, who is also in his fourth year on varsity. “She’s a really hard worker. I think it really just shows how special a team can be. I think it’s really cool that we get to celebrate with this team. Not a lot of people can say they share the record with their sister. It’s nice to see the hard work is paying off and to get recognized for that is pretty nice.”
Fair enough, but who is the better player in the basketball sibling rivalry?
“Her inside game is pretty good. She’s got really good footwork,” Joey said. “She was stronger compared to other girls than I guess I would be, but I think I can definitely create my own shot a little better than her and I think she would agree with that.”
Basketball future is bright for La Chapell
As for his future on the hardwood, La Chapell said he already has good options and has had a lot of positive college visits. He said he doesn’t have a goal in mind for what level he’ll play at in college, as long as he finds a good fit and a culture that feels like home.
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Botz, who played at the Division I level at UW-Green Bay after a stellar high school career at Little Chute, is convinced La Chapell can play at a high level.
“Is Joey a scholarship-level kid? In my opinion, absolutely,” Botz said. “But it’s just all about the right fit and where he wants to go and what he wants to do. But at the end of the day, wherever he goes it's going to be a really lucky program and a lucky coach that’s going to be able to coach him.”
This article originally appeared on Appleton Post-Crescent: Appleton East boys basketball has new all-time leading scorer
