Miramonte, in what would be a pattern in the game, quickly scored eight unanswered off a couple three’s and a midrange jumper to take a 10-2 lead. Drew McKenzie added a couple buckets in the post and Sam Bishop had back to back threes as the Dons stayed close and were only down 16-12 headed into the second.
The Matadors put together another 8-0 run to push their lead to 24-12. A McKenzie put back got the Dons on the board and a Miles Blackhart follow up made it 26-16 at one point. Blackhart followed it up with a massive block on the next play but Miramonte continued their charge with another 7-0 spurt including a top of the key three and a couple more buckets for a 33-16 halftime lead.
The second half opened with another Matador 10-0 run that put us down 43-16 before a pretty Jonah Orlando baseline jumper broke the seal for the Dons. Jake Hawkins hit a nice midrange shot as well in the quarter but the lead continued to grow and the Dons went into the fourth trailing 50-20.
Fourth quarter highlights for the Dons included an Avyn Morales three, two more Blackhart buckets and an assist from Nico Ortman to Dylan Rocca. The Dons and Matadors essentially treaded water in the quarter with the final being 60-31.
Blackhart led the way with 7 points in his best game of the year while McKenzie and Bishop both added 6. The Dons handled the press fairly well again, but it was their half court execution, excessive turnovers and defensive rebounding that did them in again. Coach Thomas seemed to get frustrated with the performance beginning in the second quarter and made wholesale substitutions of all five players at least four times throughout the contest.
The Dons fall to 5-10 on the season and 2-4 in league play, having lost three in a row and four of their last five. Next up is the rubber match at Northgate, Friday, January 28th at 4pm. Three games on the card for next week too: Monday, January 31st at Las Lomas, Tuesday, February 1st at home against Arroyo and Friday, February 4th at home against Campolindo. All games start at 4pm.
KEEP ON FIGHTING BOYS…ONE GAME AT A TIME AND GO DONS!!!!