Braedon Christie opened the scoring with a layup putting the Dons up 2-0 and that was the only lead we would see the entire night. The Spartans quickly scored the next seven points on a three by #5 and two easy layups generated off turnovers in the half court set as we over dribbled into traffic. Two Drew McKenzie free throws narrowed the score to 7-4 and then the Spartans went off from deep hitting four three’s in the quarter. McKenzie got an easy layup off the press break to make it 20-6 headed into the second.
Christie opened the quarter with a huge block, his second of the game at that point. Avyn Morales got fouled on a strong drive to the hoop and made one out of two at the stripe. The Spartans were getting too many second chances on offense and added another three by #5 to go up 25-7. Sam Bishop and Christie added two free throws each to cut he lead to 27-11 and the Dons trailed at the half 29-11.
It still felt like we were in it despite the bad first quarter and the Don’s hopefuls in the stands were looking for another strong second half run to make things interesting. Unfortunately, it just wasn’t meant to be. Maddox Malm opened the scoring with an easy lefty layup off the press break while Morales had a huge stuff on D. Bishop then found Morales for a bucket and Rocca found Morales for another but the lead continued to grow and the Dons were down 40-17 going into the fourth.
The Dons did most of their scoring in the fourth with twelve points total but the Spartans got hot from deep again, adding three more three’s. Miles Blackhart hit a free throw and Cole Gwaltney hit all three after being fouled from deep. Alex Saegert added an epic corner three. Morales hit a three as well and ended the scoring on another driving layup. . The final score was 52-29.
The Spartans used a deep bench to apply full court pressure the entire game, inexplicably even when up close to thirty points with just minutes left in the fourth. The good news is the Dons handled the press as well as they have all season (especially in the first half) and were able to generate many two-on-one’s and excellent scoring opportunities out of it. The bad news is we needed to convert more of those press break opportunities into points. We had too many turnovers in the half court set as numerous players dribbled into traffic. We did not defend the three or defensive rebound well enough to win.
The Dons were led by Morales with 10 while Christie and McKenzie each had 4. The Spartans were led by #5 with 14 and #40 with 8. The Spartans outgunned us from deep by 18 points (8-2). The Dons did a lot of their scoring from the line going 11 for 17 (.647) while DLS was 4 for 10 (.400).
The Dons fall to 5-8 (.385) on the season and remain 2-2 (.500) in league play. Full slate of games coming up this week. Monday, January 24th we play at Clayton Valley Charter at 4pm. Wednesday, January 26th we travel to Miramonte for a 4pm start. Lastly, Friday, January 28th rubber match at Northgate at 4pm. GO DONS!!!