Former ACA Coach Sol Henik and the College Park Falcons (10-13, 4-5 in League) came into town Monday night for an interleague battle in the final week of the regular season. After two emotional losses in a row, the Dons got off to a sluggish 9-2 start in the first few minutes. Gavin Dodge had a couple early buckets, then Liam Krackeler found Ian Salmon for the backdoor cut and Ian hit Cameron Hood for a pullup jumper. It was 17-8 Falcons after one.
The Dons would go without a field goal for 6 minutes when Gavin hit a scoop shot off the glass in the lane to steady the ship. Brady Quinn found Jordan Brown for a three off an inbounds pass and then Maddox Malm found Brady on the fast break for the and-1. The Dons ended up winning the second and trailed 27-19 at the half.
The lead got up to 14 with a couple minutes left in the third when Ryder Malm made his first appearance and immediately changed the energy in the building as the Dons ripped off an 8-0 run to get back in it. It started with a Brady three then Jordan hit the big man running the floor, drawing the foul and calmly burying both at the line. Liam picked up a nice steal and easy two as the Dons won the third and were down 45-39.
Three’s from Maddox and Joe Reidenbach kept us close but the Falcons continually answered with #5 hitting perimeter shots all night long to the tune of 35 points. Jordan picked up a couple nice drives late but the Dons ran out of time losing this one 69-58.
The Dons shot 36% from the field, 12/34 on 2FG (35%), somehow better on three’s 7/19 (37%), and 13/20 (65%) from the line. Meanwhile College Park shot 46% from the field, 17/32 on 2FG (53%), 6/18 (33%) on 3FG and 18/25 (72%) from the line. We lost the turnover battle 14-5 and points off turnovers 2-16. We had a huge 40-24 rebound advantage.
Brady led the way with 15 points on 5/9 shooting with 2 three’s, rebounds and assists. Jordan added 12 points on 4/6 plus 4 rebounds. Gavin had 9 points and a team high 10 rebounds. Maddox had 6 points, 7 rebounds and 3 assists. Ian had 9 rebounds and 3 assists while Liam had 3 assists and 2 steals.
Big game tonight at Northgate (15-9, 6-4 in League). If the Dons want to have a shot at an NCS berth this is a must win game as it would give them a winning 5-4 Division 2 record for the season. We may still need a little help from others but it keeps the chances alive. The Winner of the League Playoffs next week will also get an automatic NCS berth but the Dons would have to run the table winning 4 games in a row to do so. I will update on how the League Playoff seeding is working out after tonight’s game.
MaxPreps: https://www.maxpreps.com/ca/lafayette/acalanes-dons/basketball/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ACABoysBball
Photos Courtesy: @yiannikospics
