Concord travelled to Lafayette to face the Dons and their old Coach Friday night at Chris Huber Gymnasium. Coach Jones had his boys primed and ready for what turned out to be a very physical matchup against the Minutemen.
The Dons came roaring out of the gate opening up a 7-0 lead after JB Frolich found Alex Butler for a three. Maddox Malm was putting on an early passing clinic and connected with Josh Elerts for a bucket to put us up 9-2 midway through the quarter. Conor Hession entered the game with a flamethrower hitting two three’s and a two while Preston Hilsabeck added a smooth lefty finish and a nice block to end the quarter with the Dons up 19-5. We were 3/3 from three and 8/14 from the field with 5 turnovers in the period.
Both teams started the second quarter slowly until Hilsabeck found Malm who drew the foul and converted both at the line. Nico Ortman then found Hilsabeck for a pretty corner 3 as the Dons maintained a 24-8 lead. Drew McKenzie came off the bench to pick up two back-to-back blocks and Dylan Rocca added a blocked three to end the quarter up 29-9. The Dons made a living at the line in this period going 7/12 and only 1/6 from the field with 4 turnovers.
At the half, The Dons were 9/20 from the field, 4/6 from three, 7/13 from the line with 9 turnovers, 5 blocks and 4 steals. Hession led the way with 10 points and Hilsabeck added 5.
The Minutemen came out with a vengeance in the third going on a 7-0 run as the game started to get very physical and tempers started to flare. Frolich stroked a huge three, stabilizing the Dons and putting us back up 32-16. Malm then found Dodge for a three and a Josh offensive board and put back got us back up 37-19. #10 Nick from Concord started to get hot, scoring 11 in the quarter along with 3 more three’s to bring his total up to 5 on the game as Concord got to within 13 at one point. Dodge found Josh for a bucket off a nice inbounds play and Dons held a 40-26 lead headed into the fourth.
#10 continued to fuel the Minutemen early in the fourth as they got to within 10 at one point, 41-31. The Dons again found themselves at the line many times in the quarter along with an unknown heckler who apparently really wanted us to stroke it. A Malm to Josh to Hilsabeck connection was one of the best plays of the night ending in a pretty finish where Preston just hung in the air for an eternity burying the layup off the glass. Two Dodge free throws extended the lead to 51-33 and the Minutemen waived the white flag with 3 minutes to play. Cameron Hood delighted the fans with a corner three to end it 57-33.
As a team the Dons shot 17/48 from the field (35%), 7/18 from 3 (38%), and 15/28 from the stripe (54%) with 14 turnovers total. Hession led the way with 13 points with 8 very quick ones in Q1, Hilsabeck 10 and Dodge 9. Josh and Malm had 7 boards apiece. Dodge and Malm led the team in +/- with +19 and +18 respectively. For Concord, #10 Nick has a game high 21.
Dons go to 3-2 on the season with a game tonight Saturday 12/18 at home again vs. a tough San Ramon Valley squad at 4:00pm. As always, you can find all home games on the YouTube livestream. Here is the link to this one: https://www.youtube.com/live/NJNeKRwSq2c?feature=share