The JV Dons (7-8, 3-3 league) looked to get back on the winning track after a tough loss to Campolindo against College Park (6-14) in a Saturday night special in Lafayette.
Starters were Freshmen Gavin Dodge and Josh Elerts, along with Maddox Malm, Drew McKenzie and JB Frolich. First quarter was a see saw battle with the Elerts Brothers doing most of the early scoring. Josh split a pair at the line and had a nice baseline take for our first bucket. Jake came in off the bench and quickly cleaned up a loose ball for a score. Gavin then found JB with a nice look ahead pass in transition for the layup. College Park responded to every score we had and clung to a small lead most of the quarter. Jake found Gavin for a hoop and Gavin then found Conor for a 3 to put us down one. A pretty Falcon pick and roll to end the quarter made the score 12-15.
The lead quickie ballooned to 8 before Maddox hit a three on an assist from Drew out of the high post. Maddox then found JB to get the Dons within one. Gavin then made an absolutely savage block on a Falcon and Jake split a pair of free throws to tie the game at 20! The Falcons responded again, scoring the next 5 points. A Maddox rejection on D sparked the Dons into action and JB found Nico Ortman for a three to close the gap before a Preston Hilsabeck dish to Drew tied us again at 25 all. Josh had a huge offensive rebound and putback to tie us again at 27 before a Maddox to Preston for three connection finally gave us the lead 30-27 going into the break.
At the half, the Dons were 8/17 (47%) from 2FG, 4/11 (36%) from 3FG, 12/28 (43%) overall and 2/5 (40%) at the line to go along with 16 rebounds, 8 assists on 12 FG, only 3 turnovers, 3 blocks and 2 steals.
Josh was leading the way with 7 points and 5 boards.
Gavin opened the scoring in the second on a nice jumper off a baseline drive and dish from Josh. Gavin then found JB for a top of the key three off an inbounds play to put us up 35-29. The Dons continued to separate from the Falcons going on a 12-0 run including a Gavin putback off his own miss, a Josh putback, and a Gavin to Conor for three to make the score 44-29. Gavin found Sam Bishop for another three to make the score 47-35 headed into the fourth.
For a moment, it looked like we might lett the Falcons back in the game as we had multiple turnovers to open the period. They converted the first and fortunately #32 missed a wide open dunk on the next opportunity which would have cut the lead to 8. The botched dunk turned into another Conor three on the other end, a 5 point swing that now turned into a 13 point Don lead. The rest was history as they say. It felt like the fourth lasted an entire half as the game completely slowed down and an endless parade of Dons went to the line. Alex split a pair, Preston converted both on a 1-and-1, and Alex split another pair. Gavin found Alex for a big three and Alex then dropped a dime to Dylan Rocca to extend the lead to 21. Preston, with a ridiculous +17 +/- in 5 minutes, wowed the crowd with a pretty spin move and finish in the paint. Liam Gallacher always makes his presence felt one way or another, this time with a strong and-1 finish in traffic although he was unable to convert the free throw. Was nice to see Avyn Morales in his first game back in a while. Cole Gwaltney finished off the scoring, splitting a pair of free throws for the final of 66-42.
For the game, the Dons were 14/31 (45%) from 2FG, 9/20 (45%) on 3FG, 23/51 (45%) overall and 11/23 (48%) from the line along with 13 assists/13 turnovers on 23 made FG’s and 37 rebounds. Josh finished with 11 points and 8 rebounds while Gavin had 6 points, 6 assists and 6 rebounds with a team high +19 +/- in 24 minutes. Conor was an incendiary 3/4 from deep!
The Dons are back to .500 on the season at 8-8 with a 4-3 league record. Next up is the rematch against Clayton Valley (16-6, 7-1 in league) on Thursday 2/2 at 6pm who prevailed over us last time in an OT thriller.
All season and game stats for JV can now be found on MaxPreps: https://www.maxpreps.com/ca/lafayette/acalanes-dons/basketball/jv/stats/
Recording of this game can be found at: https://www.youtube.com/live/9wySFzhrVFs?feature=share
Thank you fans for all your support and GO DONS!!!!
