After dropping their first-round matchup to Cardinal Newman, the Dons faced off against the Redwood “Big Red” Friday night at Chris Huber Memorial Gymnasium. The Big Red was down about 20 to Campo in their first-round game with about 5 minutes to play but were able to get the deficit under 10 late with frenetic full-court pressure where it felt like they got their hands on everything.
The Big Red carried over that defensive momentum into this game opening up a 9-0 advantage in the first two minutes, capitalizing on 4 early Dons turnovers from the starting group of Gavin Dodge, Josh Elerts, Nico Ortman, Conor Hession, and Alex Butler. Dodge got the Dons on the board, splitting a pair of free throws. Josh got our first bucket off a Redwood out-of-bounds save attempt and was fouled but was unable to convert the three-point play. After a Preston Hilsabeck strong drive and finish, the Dons trailed 12-5. Redwood countered with a three before Hilsabeck answered with a three of his own and Jake added a bucket down low to trim the lead to 15-10 to end the quarter. The Dons finished the quarter 4/12 from the field, 1/3 from 3, and 1/3 from the line. No fouls but 5 turnovers although we settled down after the opening minutes.
The Big Red opened the scoring with an easy fastbreak layup before a JB Frolich three got the Dons close down 17-13. That’s as close as it would get the rest of the way as it felt like every time we got it close Redwood would answer with another fastbreak layup or a big three to maintain their lead. After a mini run including a 2, a 3 and a FT the Big Red opened up a 10 point lead before Frolich found Dylan Rocca underneath for 2. However, Redwood answered right back with another fastbreak layup. Liam Gallacher was able to score off an offensive board but Redwood countered with another three. Cole Gwaltney had a beautiful jump stop and dish to Rocca for another bucket to keep us close down 29-19. Cameron Hood found Frolich for a bucket before the half as the Dons went into the locker room down 31-21. Dons were 5/10 from the field in the quarter but the turnovers piled up in the quarter as we added 8 more to our total.
The Dons rolled out a lineup of Gallacher, Gwaltney, Butler, Frolich, and Avyn Morales to start the third. After yet another Big Red fastbreak layup, Morales got us on the board with a follow-up. Gallacher then found Frolich to cut the lead to 33-25. But the Big Red came down and drained a wide-open uncontested three to maintain their cushion. Gallacher found Morales in the post for 2 but the Dons then gave up two fastbreak layups off turnovers. Sophomore Drew McKenzie made his first appearance of the season with just over three minutes left and added a nice steal in the closing minutes. #14 on Redwood hit two threes to send the Big Red into the fourth with a 46-30 advantage. The Dons added 6 more turnovers to their tally and shot 4/11 in the period.
Dodge hit a three to open the fourth but another Dons turnover led to a gift-wrapped fastbreak layup. Hession did his best to fire up the troops with quality minutes initiated by a huge offensive rebound, finding Butler who got fouled and made 1/2. Hession then found Hilsabeck for a pretty runner before the Big Red countered with a bucket of their own. Hession splashed a three then found Hilsabeck for a smooth left-hand finish to cut the lead to 54-41. It may sound like a broken record at this point, but the Big Red added a couple more fastbreak layups while Hilsabeck continued his assertive play on offense adding another bucket before time ran out. Final score 63-43.
I’m confident Coach Jones will be hard at work in the lab, tinkering with his chemistry set to find the right formula as this was only the second game for a handful of the JV Dons and the squad is still missing a key piece with Maddox Malm out due to illness. However, the story of this one was 21 turnovers that led to way too many fastbreak points. Most of these came on questionable passes versus ball handling or footwork mistakes. While our advanced statistics team does not track fastbreak points, I estimate based on the shot charts the total exceeded 20 and the Big Red added 9 threes as well.
Hilsabeck had some solid minutes late and led the Dons with 11 points in 11 minutes played while Frolich added 10. Frolich also added 5 boards and Josh had 4. Ortman and Gallacher both dished out 2 assists. For the Big Red, #2 had 15 and #13 had 12 points. The Dons shot 13-33 from 2 (39%), 5/15 from 3 (33%), and 2/7 from the line (27%). Total FG’s were 18/48 (38%).
The Dons get a chance of redemption today at 10am against San Rafael who fell to Branson in their Friday night contest. As a reminder, if you can’t make it live you can always join the party on the livestream at: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmySEerOdASCV66MMcb-69w
GO DONS!!!!