On yet another rainy winter night (what is this Groundhog Day?), the Dons travelled crosstown to face the Northgate Broncos (15-9, 6-4) in a must win game for the Dons to preserve a chance of getting an NCS berth, more on that later.
Dons opened the scoring with a Cameron Hood corner three and were down 7-6 midway through the quarter after Maddox Malm added a three of his own. Then the Broncos went on a 10-0 run over the next two minutes before Maddox scored on a nice shot off the glass inside. Ian Salmon found Joe Reidenbach for the corner triple and Maddox added another from deep as time expired. It was 19-14 Northgate.
Jordan Brown scored on a pretty left hand layup, Gavin Dodge hit a corner three and Brady Quinn hit Preston Hilsabeck for the baseline J to cut into the lead. Then Brady hit Ryder Malm who converted on a midrange turnaround with the soft touch and it was 26-24 Broncos midway through the period. But the Broncos started to pull away as we approached halftime going on a 13-4 run. Ian had a nice drive and Maddox a nifty euro step finish with the left. Dons down 39-28 at the break.
Dons came out of the locker room looking good as Liam Krackeler corralled a loose ball off the fast break for two and then Maddox found Brady for three to cut the lead to 6! But the Dons would go scoreless for the next six minutes before Cameron hit a pretty step back three. Dons won the low scoring quarter by one but it was still 46-36 Broncos.
The Dons hit some free throws but went without a field goal for almost five minutes in the fourth when Maddox swished a long two just inside the top of the key. During that time Northgate hit two critical three’s and pushed their lead up to 14. The Dons were down 12 with 1:30 left and it seemed like it was over. Then Gavin hit Maddox who striped a deep three, Cameron was fouled on a three converting 2/3, and he also added a put back to cut the lead to 6 with 30 seconds left. After two missed free throws, Maddox flung the ball up ahead to Cameron in the corner who just missed a shot that could have made things very interesting. Gavin added a deep three for the final, 56-52 Northgate.
Rough shooting night for the Dons who went 29% from the field, 9/30 (30%) on 2FG, 9/31 (29%) on 3FG, and 7/11 (64%) from the line. Meanwhile Northgate was 37% overall, 9/29 (31%) on 2FG, 9/20 (45%) on 3FG (9/20) and 11/20 (55%) from the line. Their efficiency from deep, shooting almost 50%, was a key factor in this one. Turnover battle was pretty even 14-13 but Northgate converted those turnovers into 7 more points 5-12. Dons won the battle of the boards 41-35.
Maddox led the way with 15 points on 6/13 shooting, 3/7 from deep, 8 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 blocks. Cameron, who got the starting nod, had 10 points on 3/7 with two three’s. Brady had team highs of three assists and 3 steals while Ryder pulled down 7 boards in 8 minutes.
Regular Season Finale and Senior Night tonight at home vs. Mt. Diablo. Senior Night starts at 6:30pm while tipoff is at 7:00pm. Come early to give Liam Krackeler, Jordan Brown, Cooper Edelman, Conor Hession and Jake Elerts a proper Dons send off.
Postseason Update…With the loss to the Broncos the Dons are now 4-5 against D2 opponents and will not be able to qualify for NCS unless we win the League Tournament. Requirements for being eligible for NCS are to have a winning record in either overall, league or division play. It is complicated so can’t cover every scenario but it looks like we will play either Miramonte or Alhambra on the road in game one of the DAL Playoffs Monday night 2/5. Win and we would face Clayton Valley on Tuesday. Semifinals are Thursday and Finals Saturday.
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Photo EXTRAVAGANZA Courtesy: @NicoleMalm, Unassociated Press
