Playoff hoops! On Wednesday the Dons headed north to Benicia to take on the Panthers. Both teams got off to a bit of a slow start with Benicia on the board first with 2 drives and Jake Davis opening the Dons’ scoring with a FT. A 3 from Benicia got them off to a 7-1 lead and forced a timeout from Coach Powers to regroup. Theo added another FT but the shots were not falling early until Jake hit a 3, though Benicia struck right back. Ian Salmon got to the FT line, also making one, and then Jake got a dunk on a great feed from Jordan Brown. Theo made a driving layup next time down, but Benicia continued their hot shooting to take a 9-point lead into the first break.
Jake hit another 3 to start Q2 and then Zubin Acuña curled a pass inside to Jack Bayless for a layup and then hit a floater in the lane to cut the lead to 2 as the Dons were getting some stops on D and forcing some tough shots while Benicia continued to shoot well from deep. Theo nailed a 3 from the corner to get it back to a 4-point game, but again Benicia answered. Zubin drilled a 3 off an inbounds pass, Benicia finally missed a 3, and the Dons secured the rebound and came down for another Zuuuuuubin 3. The Dons defense held again with a deflection from Justin Zegarowski, who then fed Jake inside for a quick 2 and the Dons first lead of the night 28-27. Unfortunately, Benicia capitalized on their last 2 possessions to take a 32-28 lead into the half.
Q3 started with the Dons forcing a turnover but they could not convert at the other end. Theo fed Jake over the top for the Dons first bucket of the half, a Dons stop followed and Zubin nailed another inbounds play 3 to make it a 2-point game. After another stop led to long Dons possession and another 3 from Jake in the corner and a 1-point lead. The teams were trading the lead the next few trips in some exciting action, Theo got to the rack on a fast break, Jake got 2 over the top from Bayless and then Jake hit another 3 after a Theo steal.
The Dons started Q4 with the ball and Jake got to the line and hit both to cut the lead to 3 but a nice spin move led to a Panthers and 1. A few loose trips from the Dons and tough buckets from Benicia made it a 13-point game. Theo got to the line and made both ends of the 1 and 1 but the Dons needed stops. Zeg hit a nice runner, and the Dons got another stop, but Benicia just never cooled off. The Dons seniors rolled through the lineup and Landon Santos hit a late 3, but the home crowd got to enjoy a 70-52 victory. Jake led all scorers with 23, Zubin dropped 11, and Theo had 10. That will do it for 2022-2023, a good season for the senior-heavy team which will leave a lot of opportunity for the other members of the program next year. Thanks for all your support this year and go Dons!
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