Welcome back Hoops Fans! It’s been over 9 months of anticipation to see the new squad in action. Last year’s team jumped out of the gates to a 5-0 start taking the Piedmont Tournament before cooling off later in the season to finish at 13-13, falling to Benicia in the first round of the NCS Playoffs. That team graduated all five starters who played a combined 73% of all the minutes so this season is really a blank canvas with all kinds of possibilities.
Returning for the Dons this year are Seniors Jordan Brown, Liam Krackeler, Trevor Carrillo, and Cooper Edelman along with Juniors Ian Salmon, Brady Quinn, Joe Reidenbach, Matthew Bacon, and JB Frolich. New additions are Seniors Conor Hession and Jake Elerts, Junior Maddox Malm, and Super Sophomores Cameron Hood, Preston Hilsabeck, Gavin Dodge, and Ryder Malm. We’ll have more on the makeup of this roster later in our special interview with Coach Powers prior to the league tipoff.
Now to the game…an unusual 3pm start time at Chris Huber Gymnasium as everyone was still shaking off their tryptophan from the Holidays. Starting for the Dons were Ian, Brady, Joe, Maddox and Gavin. The Dons jumped out to an early lead thanks to Joe who split a pair of free throws on the opening possession and then railed a three for a 4-0 lead. Vintage answered with a three a theme that would dominate this quarter as it felt like the Dons controlled the game but were unable to pull away, failing to convert on many opportunities shooting 4/15 (33%) for the quarter and 2/8 (25%) from the line. A Brady diving steal lead to a Joe putback on the other end then Gavin slung a marvelous left handed bomb to Ian on the fastbreak to go up 9-6. Liam came in to hit a three but two more Vintage threes left us deadlocked at 12 going into the second.
The Dons went on a 7-0 run to start the second courtesy of Ian who hit a three of a Jordan assist, then finished on a baseline drive and capped it off with a fastbreak off a Brady rebound. Liam dished to Maddox for an easy bucket and then Maddox grabbed a loose ball and found Brady up ahead for the fastbreak layup to put us up 23-14 at one point. But the Crushers continued to hang around, chipping away at the lead. A Joe baseline drive finished off the scoring for a 25-20 halftime lead. Joe had 8 points at the half with Ian 7 and Liam 5.
The second half started off with a Maddox follow off a Joe miss. Another Joe baseline finish plus a Brady to Ian connection put us up 31-24. Vintage answered with another three. Joe added two free throws then Ian raced through the entire Crusher defense for a nice finish to put us up 35-27. Maddox found Ian on a nice baseline cut from the high post and Liam connected with Jordan for a three to put the Dons up 41-30. Gavin was fouled by #22 on a fastbreak as the quarter was nearing an end and #22 was also awarded a technical for his tantrum afterwards as Gavin converted 3/4 free throws to give the Dons a 45-37 lead headed into the fourth.
Vintage hit a three to narrow the lead to 45-40 but that is as close as it would get the rest of the way. Joe had a nice follow up and-1 followed by an Ian coast to coast and-1 to make the score 52-42. Joe added a nice offensive board converting 1/2 at the line then made a steal on D that led to Brady finding Jordan for a fastbreak layup. Jordan then hit the deck to grab a loose ball that ended up in a Dons possession. A Gavin rebound putback made it 57-45. The quick hands of Jordan came up with another steal that led to a smooth Brady finish on the other end and Brady then punctuated the win with a nice runner in the lane to seal it 61-48.
High scorers for this one were Joe and Ian both with 17 and phenomenal all around performances. Brady and Maddox both had 6 with Liam, Gavin, Jordan chipping in 5 apiece. Maddox had 11 rebounds including 7 offensive while Joe and Gavin added 9 each. Brady had 4 assists while Gavin had 3 steals and a team high +/- of +19!
The Dons move to 1-0 on the season with the Piedmont Tournament coming up this week. First matchup is against Windsor (0-1, loss to Justin Siena 36-57) on Thursday 11/30 at 7pm. The Dons will also play Friday and Saturday games as possible matchups include Hayward, Piedmont, Redwood, Northgate, St. Ignatius, and Archie Williams.
For game stats and highlights: https://www.maxpreps.com/games/11-25-2023/basketball-23-24/acalanes-vs-vintage.htm?c=rbVAlpd730idRWXf4w1O0w#tab=recap&schoolid=
Follow your Dons on MaxPreps this season for stats, highlights and more: https://www.maxpreps.com/ca/lafayette/acalanes-dons/basketball/
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