On December 29, the Dons faced Tamalpais for the championship in the Chris Huber Classic. Led by 8 points from senior guard Ian Archer, the Dons jumped out to a 16-8 lead after the first quarter. Although the Dons extended their lead to double digits, Tam captured some momentum heading into halftime with effective full court pressure and cut the Dons’ lead to 32-27 at halftime.
After the intermission, Tam picked up where it left off and dominated the third quarter. Heading into the fourth quarter, the Dons trailed 46-40. Senior guard Jack Wickline then led the Dons’ fourth-quarter comeback. Drawing fouls by aggressively attacking the hoop, Wickline made Tam pay by going 5-5 from the charity stripe. After Wickline converted a 3-point play with a free throw, the game was tied at 52 in the fourth quarter. Tam kept pressing though and was up a point on what figured to be the Dons’ final possession. Archer made a beautiful pass to sophomore guard Jackson Aris-Dumas who made an equally impressive finish in traffic to put the Dons up 62-61 with 8 seconds left. Unfortunately, Tam responded to convert a driving layup in the last second to win the championship.
Archer, who was named to the all-tourney team, led the Dons with 19 points, junior center John Kalil capped off a strong tourney with 13 points, and sophomore guard Scott Ruegg had 10.
The Dons conclude non-league play on Saturday, January 5, at San Lorenzo High at 4 p.m. League play starts on January 8 at 7:00 p.m. at Miramonte High.