Pencils barely down from a long week of finals and Dons immediately kicked off the holiday break with a visit to Concord High. The opening tip went to Concord and the first couple of minutes had both teams firing up their defensive skills. After a couple of minutes Tate Nelson put the first points on the board with an assist from Noah Bloch.

Concord quickly responded with a 3, but then Jack Bayless put up a bucket on an assist from Theo Stoll followed by a sweet put back tip by Nelson giving the Dons a 6-3 lead with 3:36 in the first period. The Dons were eating up the boards, and Jake Davis had a couple of back to back buckets with assists from Theo then Jack. Jake was fouled sending him to the line and converting a 3-point play.

Concord drained another 3, giving a glimpse of what was to come later in the game, while Acalanes was able to respond with a 3 by Noah and a nice 3 by Jordan Brown on an assist by Theo, ending the first period with the Dons comfortably in the lead at 19-8.

The second period got going on another Theo to Jordan for 3 pointer combo, and Concord responding with a 3 of their own. Then Colin Norstad got into the action pulling down a rebound ultimately setting up the Dons for a sweet Bayless to Stoll 3 pointer. Midway through the period the score was 25-13, the Dons were comfortably holding onto the double-digit lead. Both teams were exchanging fouls, the Dons were strong from the free-throw line and a highlight was Noah Bloch draining a deep 3, getting fouled and swishing an and one for a 4-point play! Concord was grinding but the Dons kept responding as both teams headed into the lockers at half with the Dons up 33-20.

There truly is no such thing as too big a lead, and the Concord Minutemen clearly had that in mind when they took to the floor in the second half. Most of the 3^rd period can be summed up with a lot of turnovers, some hard fouling, a Concord 7-0 run followed by an 8-0 run and a barrage of 3-point fire power. The home crowd was raising the roof and the feverish pace of the game started to whiz. The Dons momentarily quieted things down with a monstrous slam by Jake Davis, but then the Minutemen responded with a jam of their own. The 3^rdperiod ended with Concord making it a 4-point game trailing 46-42.

Buckle up, the 4^th period was an edge of your seat kind of ride. The Dons brought in some fresh legs with Justin Zegrowski who quickly scored a bucket and grabbed a board. Theo fed Jake for a bucket, starting to extend the lead again but Concord clawed back. Theo and Tate had some nice buckets, Noah had a deep 3, but Concord continued responding with some quick points on turnovers and knocking down another 3 of their own. One of the prettiest plays of the night came after Davis pulled down a big board, then Noah feeding Jack for a reverse layup. Concord drained another deep 3 and cut the lead back to 64-56 with 1:06 left in the game. At this point it became a test of mettle with the Dons needing to hold strong from the free-throw line while not giving up quick buckets to the Concord hoopsters and fans holding onto a glimmer of hope. The remaining seconds went in slow motion, with 39.5 seconds left it was 67-58. The Dons played it cool, and shined from the line, swishing free throw after free throw and in the end sealed the game with a score of 71-63.