The Dons came into the game playing their best basketball in weeks and looking to avenge the earlier loss at Clayton Valley where they were leading by one in the final minutes before succumbing to the Ugly Eagles and losing 37-31.
Cole Gwaltney got the start again at point, coming off his rousing performance against College Park as Coach Thomas tried to match the speed of the Eagles. Jake Hawkins also was a new addition to the starting lineup and more than held his own in big first quarter minutes.
The Dons got off to a slow start as the Eagles from the jump came out playing very physical and aggressive on defense. After going down 5-0 early despite a nice block from Sam Bishop, the Dons finally got on the board with about two minutes to go in the period with two Braedon Christie free throws. The Eagles added another bucket for a 7-2 lead going into the second.
Nico Ortman found Christie with a nice pass from the corner to set up a score to cut the lead to 7-4. On the next possession, Avyn Morales got the inbounds pass off the made basket finding Jonah Orlando hook-and-ladder style as Orlando streaked up the court before dishing back to Morales for a beautifully orchestrated press break fastbreak layup to keep us within three 9-6. The Eagles extended the lead to 14-6 before Christie scored back-to-back buckets, the first on a coast-to-coast finish with his left and the second off a Maddox Malm steal and nice find on the fastbreak. Another Christie free throw got us to within three again at 14-11 with about two minutes to go. The Eagles started to pour it on from there rattling off nine straight points including a three at the buzzer for exclamation sending us into the half down 23-11.
The Dons made their way back into the locker room, where the red light was flashing on the “Batphone”. As they have many times this season, we expected them to answer the call to assure Commissioner Gordon all would be OK but sometimes in sports it’s just not your night.
The second half started with another Christie free throw and a nice block on D. A Miles Blackhart follow up and another Christie drive got it to 28-16 at one point and that was the closest the Dons would get for the rest of the evening. The Eagles scored the next seven points to push it to 35-16. Malm found Dylan Rocca off a designed inbounds play to stop the bleeding and then Malm made a nice dish to Christie on a back door cut to bring it to 35-20. Drew McKenzie found Christie for another press break layup to put the Dons down 39-22 headed into the fourth.
With the starters cheering them on from the bench, the reserves came in to shine one more time as the season was coming to a close. Alex Saegart put his defender in the “popcorn machine” with a nice pump fake and drive, getting us on the board down 41-24. Saegert was fouled on one of his trademark fearless drives to the hoop on the next possession, making one of two. Brody Darin made his presence felt on D with a nice block resulting in a jump ball. Everyone was getting on the scoresheet with Hawkins and Orlando both adding a free throw each. And no full team performance would be complete without a Justin Tan three-ball. With just over 20 seconds left, Tan buried one from DEEP as the entire team and crowded erupted. Despite it being a tough game and season, it was a very nice way to end it all. Final score 49-30.
The Dons were led by Christie with 16 and points from seven other players. The Eagles were led by #2 with 11 and #1 and #5 with 7 apiece. The Dons finish the season at 7-15 (.318) and 3-9 (.250) in league play.