The joy of home court advantage! Dons’ Sixth Man was out in force, on their feet, energizing the gym last night as the Varsity boys took on Campo. The Dons played so well that their 7-point loss to Campo felt like a win.
In keeping with the tradition of Senior Night, all four seniors (Aidan Bodner, John Kalil, Murphy Baker, and Shreekar Pandey) started the game along with junior Scott Ruegg. Shreekar started the offense with a layup, followed by Scott’s jump shot. After tying the game 9-9, the Dons traded leads with Campo a couple times and ended the quarter down by one, 17-18. Of those 17 points, Scott scored 10, and Aidan and Shreekar pitched in for the other 7.
The back and forth continued second quarter. Jackson Aris-Dumas and John scored the first two baskets, giving the Dons a 3-point lead at 21-18. After Campo tied, Graham Smith scored on a steal and fast break, and Scott kept the momentum by nailing a 3-pointer and floating a 2-pointer. The Dons took their biggest lead of the night, 28-21. But Campo eventually cut the Dons’ lead to two, 26-28. Campo continued scoring, but Joey Carrillo’s two baskets and John’s free throw briefly put the Dons up 34-32. Campo tied the game 34-34 as the teams headed to the locker room.
Campo ate some Wheaties during halftime and opened the third quarter with a 6-0 run. Aidan passed to Jackson, who swished a 3-pointer to jump start the Dons. Campo scored, but Scott spun and cut to the basket, 39-42. After Campo scored on free throws, both teams stalled offensively. Graham showed patience in scoring from underneath, 41-44. Campo continued scoring, but Joey answered each time on assists from his teammates, scoring 9 of the Dons’ 16 third-quarter points. 50-55.
Strong defense prevented both teams from scoring the first two minutes of the fourth quarter. But Campo then knocked down three baskets to our one basket scored by Jackson. Scott stole the ball and hit a 3-pointer, 55-60. The Dons had trouble scoring, but Campo didn’t and they opened their lead to 9 points. It remained 55-64 until the final minute of the game, when Campo hit a free throw and Scott’s 3-pointer sailed in. Final score, 58-65.
Huge kudos to the Dons’ defense, which managed to limit 2019 Cal-Hi freshman player of the year Aidan Mahaney to 8 points, which is far below his season average of 19.6-points per game. Scott (23 points) and Joey (14 points) delivered big time as our high scorers of the night.
Basketball families are grateful to Mila Mathias and Stephanie Liu for performing a beautiful arrangement of our national anthem, Suzanne and Matt Schenone for planning the senior night celebration, varsity team manager senior Krishna Prabaharan for helping the team, and our dedicated Dons nation for ShowingUp. It was a fun night