The Dons (6-12) rolled into Martinez on Wednesday night to try to get back in the win column against the Alhambra Bulldogs (9-9).  In recent years this hasn’t been much of a battle, but second year Coach Ric Shepard has done a good job turning things around for the ‘Dogs and this one was intense until the last seconds.

A slow start for the Dons as we spotted the Dogs 6 points out of the gate before Maddox Malm found Jordan Brown for an acrobatic left hand and-1 finish to break the ice.  Liam Krackeler and Jordan were able to keep us close in the first as we trailed 18-13.  But the Dogs pulled away in the second as the Dons went cold and only scored 6 points.  The Dogs frenetic zone caused problems generating 9 turnovers in the quarter and 14 for the half.  #23 for Alhambra was a one man wrecking crew and had as many points as our whole team at the break.  Liam had 9 points and Jordan 8.

The lead got all the way up to 16 as the Dons were down 43-27 with a little over two minutes left in the third.  Joe Reidenbach woke us up with a jumper in the lane, Maddox tipped one in and Gavin hit a baseline J to end the quarter.  Dons won the third but still faced a 12 point deficit, 46-34.

You could cut the tension with a knife in the fourth as things started to get chippy with the Dons wreaking havoc with their full court pressure turning the Bulldogs over 11 times in the period.  We finally got it under 10 midway through as Liam found a cutting Joe for two.  Then Gavin Dodge found Liam for a beautiful swish trey from deep 50-44 as the home team tightened up.  Moments later Gavin hit Brady Quinn for another three and the Dons were within three with 2 minutes to play!   LET’S GOOOO!!!

Both teams traded missed three’s then Liam came up with one of his team high 5 steals with just under a minute to go.  The Dons worked the ball around the perimeter…tick, tock, tick, tock.  With 5 seconds left on the shot clock, Liam dished to Maddox for a three.  The bench were on their feet, they liked it and it looked on line but clanked off the back rim.  The Dogs corralled the rebound and were fouled, splitting a pair on an improbable high arching shot off the glass.  Two more missed desperation three’s later, time ran out and the Dogs prevailed 51-47.

Very poor shooting night overall for the Dons which was ultimately the reason we came up short.  32% overall, 11/26 on 2FG (38%), 6/27 on 3FG (22%) and 7/17 from the charity stripe (41%).  Meanwhile the Dogs were 44% overall, 10/21 on 2FG (47%), 9/22 from 3FG (41%) and 4/9 from the line (44%).  We won the battle of the boards 34-30 and turned the ball over less despite the first half troubles, 22 to Alhambra’s 27. 

Liam had the best individual stat line with 12 points on 5/9 shooting, 2/4 on 3FG and team highs of 8 rebounds, 6 deflections, and 5 steals, plus 3 assists in 25 minutes.  Gavin had 13 points on 4/15 shooting, 6 rebounds, 4 steals, 4 deflections and 3 assists in 30 minutes.  Jordan added 8 points on 3/4 shooting and a team high 5 assists in 20 minutes.  For the Dogs, #23 really cooled off in the second half but still ended with 22 points, 8 deflections, 6 rebounds, 5 steals and 5 turnovers.

One more on the road for the Dons before returning home and next up the biggest game of the year.  Our archrivals, Campolindo, who are coming into this one with an impressive 15-4 resume on the season.  Tipoff is at 7:30pm tonight January 19th, in Moraga. It is a BLUE OUT so all DONS fans come and show your support!  There will be pizza and taco trucks on site.

Game will also be broadcast live on NFHS Network (subscription required): https://www.nfhsnetwork.com/events/campolindo-high-school-moraga-ca/gam34f65eaa41