The JV Dons made the trek up the hill to face an outstanding Campolindo squad that came into this game 23-2 overall and 11-0 in league play. The Dons dropped the earlier meeting in Lafayette 40-64.
Starters were Freshmen Gavin Dodge and Josh Elerts to go along with the Sophomore trio of JB Frolich, Drew McKenzie and Maddox Malm.
The pace was fast but both teams struggled to find the bucket early and were doing a good job not allowing any offensive rebounds. The score was only 4-4 with a little over a minute left in the quarter as Gavin found Josh for our first bucket and JB added a pair of free throws. Campo got the and-1 to take the lead but was quickly answered by back to back Gavin Dodge follow ups to give the Dons an 8-7 advantage. Unfortunately, Campo buried a top of the key three as time expired to take the 2 point lead into the second, 8-10. Gavin had a great quarter including a great track down block on D and some tough rebounds inside.
The second quarter started off ominously with a steal off our inbounds pass which led to a fastbreak bucket as we went down 8-12. The Dons bounced right back though as JB found Maddox for a nice back door cut down the middle with a finger roll finish. JV Dons always throw a solid Block Party and this one was legendary as Maddox had 3 blocks in 25 seconds with two on dominant Cougars 6’5″ big man #11 Luke Devine and Alex also had one. Preston found Alex on the other end for a lefty layup to tie the game at 12 and Maddox recorded his fourth rejection in a little over a minute chasing down Devine on a fastbreak layup attempt. Campo would score off an inbounds play to seize the lead for a moment before JB got the shooter’s roll to tie us at 14 all. Gavin joined the party with a sinister rejection of Campo Frosh Peyton Beld that got the whole bench off their feet…that one had to leave a mark. Another easy layup off an inbounds play gave Campo a 14-16 lead midway through the period. Then things turned ugly as the Cougars ended up going on a 13-0 run to take a 14-27 lead. Josh was able to add on a free throw before the half and we were down 12, 15-27.
Maddox got us on the board on the first possession in the third with a three ball….splash 18-27. Josh then went to work inside getting fouled on multiple possessions converting 2/4 and with a spin move bucket as well. Drew added a nice bucket on a strong drive against Devine then Gavin found Maddox for a wide open three that was nothing but net as we kept it close but were having trouble getting it back into single digits. The Elerts Bros connected with Jake finding Josh who was fouled again converting both this time. An Alex follow up late made it 31-43 going into the fourth.
The Dons would leave it all out on the floor in the final period. After Alex spilt a pair and Josh scored inside the Dons were still down 34-45. Maddox recorded his fifth block of the night on D. Josh found JB for two and Alex had a strong finish inside to finally get it under ten with a little over three left to play. Campo called time and hit a nice mid-range jumper to push the lead back up to 10. JB scored on the next play on a follow up of a nice Gavin lefty spin move but Campo big man Devine answered again, getting fouled and making both. Gavin converted 2/2 at the line next time down to make the score 43-51. Then Josh corralled a defensive board and was fouled going to the line for the 1-and-1 as we were now in bonus. Josh split two, cutting the lead to 7 with 1:30 left. The Dons started to intentionally foul to try to put Campo on the line but the Cougars tried to get cute with a lob off an inbounds play that was missed and the Dons got the board with Gavin getting fouled. He went to the line making the first but missing the second as the Dons were now down 6 but had left a lot of points at the line too. The Cougars missed the front end of a 1-and-1 and the Dons had one last shot at it but came up short on two missed layups. Campo added two more free throws to make the final 45-53.
As a team, the Dons shot 13/36 (36%) on 2FG, 2/12 (17%) on 3FG, 15/48 (31%) overall and 13/22 (59%) on FT to go along with 31 rebounds, 6 assists, 9 turnovers and 8 blocks. Josh led the way with 13 points and 4 rebounds. JB had 8 points and 7 boards. Maddox had 8 points and 5 blocks. Gavin had 7 points, 7 rebounds and 2 blocks. Alex had a great game too with 7 points and 8 rebounds in just 15 minutes.
The Dons finish the season 10-11 overall and 6-6 in league play. Even though they came up short in this one, it was a great game and effort against Campo who is best in class this year at the JV level. Looking forward to seeing what this Dons team looks like next year as you can feel the pendulum starting to swing our way.
Thank you all for all your love and support for this team. It’s been a helluva ride and a pleasure to once again be your trusted news source. GO DONS!!!!