It had been awhile since these Dons tasted sweet victory, 24 days to be exact, and this was one of those fun games where everyone got to play and there were tons of smiles to go around. Berean (3-11, 0-6 in League) came into this contest off a pretty close loss to Alhambra 63-47 in their last game. The Eagles had two players transfer out before the season, one to Dougherty Valley and another to Benicia, that really affected the makeup of their team this year.

It took just 6 seconds for the Dons to strike as Brady Quinn found Liam Krackeler for a three. Maddox Malm then exploded with 9 points in a three minute spurt plus an assist to Ian Salmon as the Dons full court pressure flustered the Eagles and we were up 15-4 midway through the quarter. Then Maddox fired a fullcourt pass to Brady in the end zone who went up high to make the catch and was able to dish it to the trailing Joe Reidenbach for two as he was falling backwards out of bounds. The lead got up to 19-4 at one point before the Eagles made a little run at the end of the quarter for a 21-10 score.

After 4 minutes without a field goal, Maddox got us back on the board when he jumped the passing lane at halfcourt and took it the rest of the way with a gorgeous finger roll. Then the Dons exploded on offense, starting with Brady finding Gavin Dodge underneath for the deuce. Jordan Brown stole the ball and dropped a dime to Liam on the break, then found Ian Salmon in the corner for a triple. Brady hit Liam for another three and Gavin hit Ian for a smooth up and under lay-in. The Dons held a 41-19 lead at the break as Liam and Maddox both had 11 points.

The third started like the first with a Brady dish to Liam for another three 7 seconds in. Jordan found Ian on the break then Ian found Gavin up ahead for two more. Joe hit a corner three followed by a Jordan high arching three with an exaggerated, high class follow through. Conor Hession had back to back assists, finding Brady in the lane and then Joe on an inbounds play for the and-1. Then Conor was fouled on a three as time expired in the period, going to the line on an island all by himself and calmly knocking down all three as the lead was 45, 71-26.

A lineup of Preston Hilsabeck, JB Frolich, Jake Elerts, Cooper Edelman and Conor took us home in the fourth. The highlight was a Jake drive from the three point lane through the Eagles entire defense for the strong left hand finish off the glass as the entire bench erupted with several players raising their left hands in unison.

Some pretty crazy stats in this one. The Dons shot 44% from the field, 16/33 on 2FG (49%), 7/19 on 3FG (37%), and a staggering 23/31 from the line (74%) – that is a TON of free throws. The Eagles were 23% from the field, 9/30 on 2FG (30%), 2/17 on 3FG (12%), and 10/14 (71%) from the stripe. The Dons led in rebounds 41-28, transition points 23-2, and points off turnovers 27-8. We had 11 turnovers to their 20.

Lima had 14 points on 5/6 shooting, 3/4 from deep, and 2 steals in 11 minutes. Ian had 12 points on 4/5 with 2 assists in 12 minutes. Maddox had 11 points on 5/8 with a team high 4 steals in 9 minutes. Joe had 10 points on 3/5 in 12 minutes. Jordan had 5 rebounds, 5 assists and 2 steals in 14 minutes. Brady had a team high 6 assists.

Next up is Miramonte (14-7, 4-3 in League) on Wednesday at home. Then a primetime Friday night matchup against Ygnacio Valley (17-5, 8-0). Both games tip at 7:30pm and will be livestreamed. GO DONS!!!!