The Dons made the trek across the Bridge on another rainy, winter evening to try to snap their losing streak against a much higher ranked 11-4 Benicia squad. 

The Dons started strong trading blows with the bigger, more physical Panthers in a seesaw first quarter.  Liam Krackeler broke the seal with a three, followed by Ian Salmon finding a cutting Gavin Dodge for two and Gavin returning the favor to a streaking Ian with some sweet english off the glass on a fast break.  Gavin went coast to coast for two more and Brady Quinn found Liam off a nice curl cut as it was 20-15 Benicia after one.

After cutting the lead to 20-17 on a nice Brady drive to open the quarter, the Dons were only able to muster four more points in the second as Benicia pulled away and took a 38-21 halftime lead.  The Dons were 3/13 from the field in the quarter as it seemed like many players struggled with depth perception issues all night long given the amount of three’s which were airballed or banked off the glass.  Liam had 6 points at the half while Gavin and Ian both had 5.

The lead got up to 20 points midway through the third before the Dons started a furious comeback.  Brady converted a layup as he went crashing into the wall behind the hoop, then Gavin found Liam for two on a fast break and Brady banked in a three.  A Brady putback, strong drive by Gavin, and then Joe to Gavin for a triple closed the gap to 10, 50-40 going into the fourth as the Dons were 8/14 from the field in the period.

On our first possession, Brady hit Preston Hilsabeck on a beautiful back door cut on a designed play to cut it to 8!  Then some nice passing on a fast break as Brady found Liam Krackeler for the three and we were down 7 with 5:30 left as Panthers needed a timeout.  Maddox Malm came up with a nice block then Gavin found Liam for a three to cut it to four but wait…the bucket was waived off as we had stepped out of bounds.  Benicia hit a tough pull-up twenty footer on the next play and we were unable to score on our next few possessions as they eventually pulled away late for the 67-51 final.  

The Dons ended 40% from the field on 16/31 for 2FG (52%), 5/21 on 3FG (24%) and 4/12 from the line (33%).  Benicia was 38% from the field going 22/51 from 2FG (41%), 4/18 from deep (22%) and 11/16 from the line (69%).  Benicia outrebounded us 44-36 with a 20-11 advantage on the offensive boards.  We had 13 turnovers to their 5.  Panthers also held advantages in points in the paint 38-28 and points off turnovers 14-6.

Liam led the way with 14 points on 5/9 shooting with two three’s and team highs 8 rebounds and 3 assists in 22 minutes.  Brady had 10 points, 3 rebounds and 3 assists and was +2 in 17 minutes.  Gavin also had 10 points plus 3 assists in 31 minutes.  Maddox had a team high 3 blocks in 16 minutes.  The Panthers were led by their big man #2 who had 18 points but oddly zero rebounds.  The guys that beat us on the glass were #22 who had 14 points and 8 rebounds, #11 who had 12 points and 10 rebounds and #0 who also had 10 rebounds and 5 assists.

The Dons (6-12, 1-3 in League) travel to Alhambra (9-9, 2-2 in League) this Wednesday 1/17 and to crosstown rival Campolindo (15-4, 4-1 in League) this Friday 1/19.  Both games tipoff at 7:30pm.