This was a match up tale of two AHS Dons teams going head to head. Although playing away in San Leandro, if it wasn’t for the red, white and black colors, one might have thought Acalanes was the home team as even the “A” was reminiscent of the beloved Acalanes “A”.
Traveling to San Leandro for the second game of a back to back and ending what has been a long stretch of games on the road, Acalanes needed a win to swing the momentum as they head into a four game home stretch looking to close out the regular season.
The Arroyo Dons looked young, with two freshmen starters, but scrappy, and this turned into a physical game, unfortunately seeing multiple players from both teams hitting the deck late in the game. Acalanes were hungry for boards, pulling down upwards of 15 boards, Justin and Colin monsters on the boards, Tate, Jack, Jake and Jordan all contributing as well. The combo of rebounding, some smart transitional playing and the beyond the arc shooting from Noah who hit four 3s and finished the game with 17 points drove Acalanes to bring home the win.
The first quarter started a little off, Acalanes had some silly turnovers and Arroyo capitalized with some quick baskets opening up a decent lead mid-way through the first. Acalanes saw some nice action from a variety of players, all the usual suspects getting into the mix. Jordan had a nice driving bucket and one, but Arroyo had a few quick buckets along with a deep 3. Noah responded with a 3 of his own then a steal and drove for 2 and at the end of the first Arroyo was leading 15-14.
The second period saw the momentum start to swing towards Acalanes, who were also swinging the ball, keeping Arroyo running. Acalanes continued playing physical, Zubin drew a charge which ignited the bench and by the end of the second Acalanes took the lead with a score of 27-25 at half.
Justin and Colin each had multiple boards in the third period and Noah and Jordan had some sweet 3s, but the big highlight was Jack’s buzzer beater deep 3 to close out the third edging Acalanes lead to 44-35.
The fourth got a little rough for both teams but strong shooting, smart ball movement and continued rebounding on both ends of the court kept Acalanes holding a strong lead. The last several minutes of the game seemed to move in slow motion as Arroyo started fouling with 3 minutes left in the period. Acalanes kept cool under pressure and lots of clean shooting from the free-throw line with Nathan and Colin both hitting free throws to help close out the game with a solid 53-45 victory. Acalanes took down the Arroyo Dons and notched a much needed win!
Get ready for the home stand, here come the Varsity hoopsters!