Friday night saw the Dons take on Dougherty Valley in the semifinals of the Chris Huber Classic. Both teams were missing a few players due to illness for a second straight day. After yesterday’s inspirational (miraculous?) win that saw the Dons win with a last second tip-in following a wild free throw sequence, the crowd could only hope for a similar spectacle this evening. Colin Norstad opened the scoring with a free throw and Nate Bennett added a long 2 and then a nice assist to Jack Bayless for a layup, but points were hard to come by against DV’s tough and disciplined defense. Jordan Brown got his first basket on a nice long press break pass to keep the Dons in striking distance but a quick DV basket forced a timeout from Coach Powers to get organized again. Zubin Acuna beat an overplaying defender (overplaying due to Zubin’s seven 3 pointers last night) to get a tough and 1 to end the scoring for the quarter.
The second quarter scoring started with Colin dropping a dime to Jack on a back cut, then Brady Quinn kicking to Jack for the Dons first triple of the game. Jack then did it himself with a pull up 2 in the lane to make it 7 points in the first part of the quarter. Trevor Carrillo got on the board next with a FT. Overall however, the Dons had a difficult time containing all-league DV guard Connor Sevilla as he continued to power their offense. Zubin added another nice and 1 late in the quarter but the Dons still trailed at the break.
Q3 started off with Jordan nailing a 3 on an inbound play and then going to the line after a nice hustle save from Colin. Ian Salmon turned a nice drive and finish into his first of the night, so all the Dons were assisting or scoring in the offense. Ian got back into the lane and to the line drawing a foul on his next drive as well. Next time down, sharpshooter Zubin converted his first 3 of the game that energized the crowd.
Nate led off the Q4 scoring from the FT free throw line. Jordan also added a FT, but the clock, running at this point, kept the scoring down in the 4th and the game wrapped. The Dons take on Oak Ridge in the 3rd place game at 5pm Saturday which will be followed by the Chris Huber Memorial Gym Dedication at 6:30. Please show up and support the Dons, and stay to honor the one and only Coach Huber!