The 5-5 JV Dons took to the road to face the 5-8 College Park Falcons in a Monday night matchup. Been a tough year so far for Coach Tohn Smith and the Falcons as they lost their best player to a broken leg earlier in the season.
The Dons started with Freshmen Gavin Dodge and Josh Elerts along with a trio of Sophomores JB Frolich, Drew McKenzie and Sam Bishop. The Dons got off to a good start when Sam banked in a three to break the seal. A JB and-1 put us up 6-2 before the Falcons started to pour it on. After tying it up, they charged ahead on back to back three’s from #22. Gavin countered with a three of his own and Conor Hession scored on a drive to keep it close at 11-12. But the Falcons went on another run to close the quarter out up 7, 11-18.
Maddox Malm made his first appearance after an extended absence and completely took over the second quarter with 10 points. A Conor steal led to a Maddox follow up bucket and then he punctuated it with a triple to get us back to down 1, 17-18. Josh then added a nice and-1. Maddox picked up a steal that led to Gavin getting fouled and converting both then the duo connected again as Maddox found Gavin for a three to give us the lead 25-24! Maddox added a nice lefty finish off the glass and another three to put us up 6 at one point and we went into the locker room up 30-26. The Dons outscored the Falcons 19-8 in the period.
The Falcons came out strong in the third scoring the first six points and extending the lead to 31-35 after #22 hit another three. The Dons responded with Sam initiating the spark, snagging a deep rebound and taking off coast to coast as he was fouled hard from behind crashing into the bleachers and converted 1/2. Gavin, who was simply clutch all night long, buried a three from Josh to tie it up at 35 and hit another one on the next possession to give us the lead again. Then the Butler did it…Alex hit a big three to put us up 6 at 41-35 and another bucket off a nice press break connection from Maddox and Josh to put us up 7. Gavin added a nice runner and JB two free throws for a 47-42 advantage going into the fourth.
A pretty sideline out of bounds play to JB and two Maddox free throws held the lead but College Park answered and tied the game up at 51 midway through the quarter. If there was a problem, yo, he’ll solve it as Gavin, aka Vanilla Ice, started his free throw shooting clinic while being heckled by a group of rowdy fans just feet away, hitting both to put us up 53-51. Then the Butler delivered two more huge daggers from deep in an epic 3/3 performance from three to put us up 7, 60-53. Gavin tacked on four more free throws and was a perfect 8/8 from the stripe for the game. Josh, who played his heart out as usual, had a strong drive to put us up 64-53 with just over a minute to go as the Dons faithful erupted. Josh and Cole both split a pair of free throws to give us the final score of 66-56. A giant road win as this team stays undefeated in league play at 2-0!
The Dons shot 9/24 (38%) on 2FG, 10/22 (45%) from deep, 19/46 (41%) overall and 18/29 (62%) from the line to go along with 32 rebounds, 12 assists and 24 turnovers. Gavin played almost wire to wire again in a stunning performance with 22 points, 4/5 from three, 8/8 from the line, 6 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 steals. Alex had a team high +21, 13 points and 6 boards. Maddox was +14 with 12 points, 2 assists, 2 steals. Josh pulled down 11 boards and also had 3 assists while JB also dropped 4 dimes.
The Dons move to 6-5 overall and 2-0 in league. Next up another tough road contest this Friday 1/13 at 5:45pm against a 10-4 Clayton Valley who beat this same Falcons team by 40 on 1/4. Please note the time for all league games has changed from 5:30 to 5:45 as the Freshman game now starts thirty minutes later. GO DONS!!!!