One of the exciting things about going to a sporting event, at any level, is you never know what you might see. Sometimes you get lucky and something magical might happen right before your eyes that you will remember for a lifetime.
Friday night was the Regular Season Finale and Senior Night for the Dons who hosted Mt. Diablo (2-21, 1-10). The Dons were heavily favored and expectations were to see a Senior-heavy roster for their last hurrah at Chris Huber Gym. Seniors Liam Krackeler, Jordan Brown, Cooper Edelman, Conor Hession, and Jake Elerts were honored prior to the game with their respective families and the universal favorite memory during the ceremony seemed to be spending time in San Diego with their teammates.
The group took the floor together for the opening tip. Jordan found Liam for a triple to break the ice for the Dons and then Cooper rebounded a missed free throw and had a strong put back for the and-1. We were rolling and the student section – decked out in all white, standing in unison and filling almost half the court on one side, was into the game early. Liam added a put back then found Maddox for a turnaround J. Jordan found his senior brethren Liam for another triple and Gavin Dodge cleaned up his own miss for an easy two. It was all Dons in the first with a 17-5 lead.
Brady Quinn joined the party with a lefty bucket then found Ian Salmon as he cashed in from deep off the glass. As we all know the bank is open a little later on Fridays. Then Brady found Cooper for a rainbow three that pushed the lead to 20. Everyone was getting on the board as Jordan found Preston Hilsabeck for a post bucket. But Liam wasn’t done, adding two more triples, one courtesy of Ryder Malm and the other Jordan for the third time the two connected in the half! It was 35-11 with two minutes left as Coach Powers called timeout.
The buzzer sounded and four Dons walked onto the floor while the rest of the team was still huddled together as one. Moments later, the mass of white jerseys opened and the players and student section erupted as #31 ran onto the floor. No one had any idea what they were about to witness. Team Manager and fellow Senior, Ori Elbaz, was about to become a LEGEND in LAFAYETTE. At many home games this year, the student section has chanted “ORI, ORI, ORI” during the player introductions before the game while doing an Altanta Brave-style tomahawk chop with their arms. As far as I could tell he may have already been the most popular, well liked guy at school, even before this night.
The Dons inbounded the ball and Jordan brought it into the front court, immediately looking to get Ori a touch. After a couple pass exchanges, Ori faked a backdoor cut in the corner and gravitated back toward the sideline as Liam dished it back. The release was quick, the form was solid and the arc on the shot was so high it went off the video screen before diving back into the picture straight through the hoop. The net snapped so hard it almost got stuck on the rim. Everyone went NUTS! The bench jumped up and down like they were at a trampoline park and overjoyed cheerleaders fell to the floor as the kids on the sweat towel crew elatedly hugged each other.
On the next possession, Conor drove the baseline and found Ori in the corner who fired his second three that caromed off the top corner of the backboard. The crowd let out a collective “OH” and for a second everyone thought Chris Huber Gym was coming back down to Earth. But Jordan raced to the long rebound, tipping it right back to Ori who launched again. You could tell he liked it the whole way as he started to trot back towards our bench just after the release. BOOM! Another swish as the crowd took off to parts unknown. The video camera literally could not pick up the noise anymore at this point. Mt. Diablo did not know what hit them as they wildly threw their next pass out of bounds and Ori made his way over to the student section, stirring them up for more.
The Dons turned the ball over but Ori raced back on defense, deflecting a pass and scooping up a steal. You would have thought he just hit a game winner. He was literally walking on water at this point. Jordan brought the ball up and found Ori who fired a deep sideline three. A smooth, picturesque shot flying off the screen again and dropping right through the net. SWISH. Ori strutted back towards the bench as Coaches Hewitt and Hemmenway had to hold each other up while some of his teammates fell over into the stands and others couldn’t help but run down the sidelines – they simply didn’t know what to do with themselves. The definition of beside yourself. People cheered, smiled, yelled, hugged, high-fived their neighbors and shed tears of joy. No one could escape this moment. 100 seconds of pure BLISS. The buzzer eventually sounded and the bench rushed the floor to mob Ori with about 30 students joining in. It was pure pandemonium and it was only halftime. 44-11 DONS.
See it for yourself here: https://www.youtube.com/live/cNM1DE9NFpA?si=R4mBiPydfR7GHhRZ&t=4714
Hard to follow that but Jordan found Jake for two on a nice fastbreak to open scoring in the third and then hit Cooper for a pretty jumper in the lane. Conor got on the board on a beautiful drive with the left finishing high off the glass. Ian found Ryder underneath for two and added a put back of his own. But Mt. Diablo was not lying down and won the quarter, trimming the lead to 60-36.
JB Frolich dished to Cam for a top of the three key to start the fourth. Jordan, who had 10 assists on the night, found a streaking Liam for two more on the fastbreak. Cooper stole a pass and converted then Liam found Conor underneath for another. Jordan threaded the needle to Jake underneath for the final bucket of the night.
And what about Ori? He did make it back in with about four minutes to go missing a few shots and grabbing a nice offensive rebound off a missed free throw. But with 2.1 left, he possibly had one more trick up his sleeve. Liam inbounded the ball after a Mt. Diablo made free throw and launched a 3/4 court pass down the field to a streaking Ori who batted the ball to himself away from the two defenders draped all over him and gathered it at the elbow. With his back facing the basket, he flung a shot over his shoulder as the buzzer sounded. It looked like it had a chance but it just missed left off the rim. It didn’t matter. The bench and bleachers emptied as a mass of students pushed the man of the hour towards the exit doors chanting his name ORI, ORI, ORI!
The final was 72-50. Liam led the way with a masterpiece in his final home game with 18 points on 7/12 shooting, 4/8 from deep plus 10 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 steals becoming one of only three Dons with a double double this year (the others are Gavin and Maddox). Jordan had a team/season high of 10 assists and also 5 steals. All the Seniors scored as Cooper had 10 points and 9 rebounds, Jake 6 points and 3 rebounds, and Conor 4 points and 4 rebounds. The Dons shot 36% from the field, 17/39 on 2FG (44%), 10/37 on 3FG (27%) and 8/16 (50%) from the line. Mt. Diablo was 36% from the field too, 11/31 on 2FG (36%), 5/14 on 3FG (36%) and 13/19 (68%) from the line. We outrebounded them 52-31. Also won the turnover battle 15-25, points off turnovers 31-6 and second chance points 24-6.
The Diablo Athletic League Playoffs start tomorrow and the 10th seeded Dons will play 7 seed Las Lomas at 7pm in Walnut Creek. The Dons lost their only matchup with the Knights very early in the season at their place, a game in which we were down 3 points with a few minutes left but they pulled away late. Both teams probably look very different at this point and it is rumored Las Lomas may be without a key player due to injury. However, it is the playoffs now where one loss could mean the season is over so expect an intense, hard fought battle. We already know anything could happen and you never know what you might see.
Buy Tickets for Playoffs Here: https://gofan.co/event/1378508?schoolId=CA87484&s=03
MaxPreps: https://www.maxpreps.com/ca/lafayette/acalanes-dons/basketball/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/ACABoysBball
Photos Courtesy: @NicoleMalm, Unassociated Press
