On Friday the Dons headed up the hill to take on the Clayton Valley Charter Ugly Eagles. It was a nearly full house with good size student sections from both schools so it was great atmosphere for Friday night hoops. CV struck first on a 3 from the left wing drawing a roar from the crowd, but the Dons got it back on a post from Jake Davis and took the lead with a Zubin Acuna 3. Jake got a putback and ran a nice dribble handoff with Zubin for the sniper’s second 3 of the quarter. Acalanes was really sharing the ball nicely against the CV pressure defense, with Jack Bayless kicking to Theo Stoll for another 3 late in the period. CV added a 3 late to give the Dons a 13-6 lead after Q1.

The Dons were also playing some superb defense, mixing up the coverages and keeping the Eagles off balance. Jake started off Q2 with a huge block and Theo capitalized at the other end with a tough fadeaway. CV got a transition bucket and tightened up their defense to cut the lead to 2 after and and 1 in transition. 2 more CV 3s got them out to a 5 point lead after Jack scored on a nice cut. Jake added 2 FT and Zeg got a FT to cut the lead to 2. Zeg powered to the hoop for layup to tie the game up but a late foul call sent CV to the line, where they converted 1 for a 22-23 home team lead at the half. Throughout the half, and for the remainder of the game, the Dons were getting to every loose ball first and winning the fight for extra possessions.

The Dons struck first in the second half with Theo hitting Jack with a beautiful dime for an easy layup. The Eagles hit a 3 next time down to regain the lead and added a FT. Jack got a nice driving bucket to cut the lead to one and added a put back to give the Dons the lead. Jack hit Jake for a transition layup and then Jake spun on the CV big for nice post bucket. The Dons were holding the Eagles scoreless in the run and after a 3 from Jake there were up 10, 37-27. After back to back and 1s by CV star James Moore, Zuuuubin silenced the crowd with a 3 and added another late in the quarter to bring the crowd to their feet. A late CV basket cut the lead and Acalanes led by 7 at the break.

Colin Norstad got the Dons first points of Q4 on a baseline jumper but a couple of CV layups cut the lead to 3. Acalanes failed to score the next time down and CV got a dunk in transition to make it a 1 point game and force a timeout from Coach Powers. Theo stopped the bleeding after the timeout with a driving and 1. The Jakes traded baskets with Jake King hitting another 3 followed by Jake Davis getting another basket inside. It was an intense game to say the least. CV took a 1 point lead but then Zeg nailed a corner 3 to put the Dons back on top. Yet another layup from the Eagles tied it up with 2 to play. A few shots rimmed out for the Dons and the Eagles got sent to the FT line steadily, pushing to a 5 point lead. The Dons then cut it 3 on a nice feed to Jake inside with 1:19 remaining. CV got 2 more FT to extend to 5 but Zuuuubin came back with a 3 that fell after a Kawhi-esque bounce to make it a 2 point game. The Dons were forced to foul and CV made both to push it to 4 with 24 seconds left. The Dons failed to score next time down, and that’s where it wrapped, 58-62. It was a great effort by the Dons against the much larger school, and defending NCS D1 champs, in CV. The Dons will look to bounce back in league play with 2 home games next week, Wednesday against Northgate and Friday facing Miramonte. Thanks for the support tonight on the road, we hope to see everyone at home this week!