The Dons moved on to the “win or go home” phase of the season looking for redemption Monday night of an early season loss at Las Lomas which was a very close game up until a few minutes left. It wasn’t quite the sellout I expected but still a well attended game that did not disappoint in terms of playoff intensity.

Both teams exchanged jabs in the first. The Dons got on the board when Ian Salmon fired a beautiful half court pass to Maddox Malm for two. Maddox added another bucket high off the glass then found Gavin Dodge for the floater in the lane. With time winding down, Cameron Hood hit Joe Reidenbach for a strong drive and the Dons held a 9-8 lead.

Gavin followed his own shot for a smooth fadeaway jumper off the glass then added a three courtesy Jordan Brown to push the lead to 16-10. Liam Krackeler hit Maddox for a three and Brady found Ian for a nice reverse layup as the Dons extended their lead. The Knights scored the next two buckets before Brady found Maddox for the step back triple. Then Maddox got an offensive rebound and finished it to push the lead to 12. Las Lomas scored the next five to give us a 28-21 halftime score. Maddox had 12 points and Gavin 7 at the break.

Las Lomas really turned up the intensity in the third. Liam hit a high arcing three and Brady had a smooth left handed drive to get the lead back to double digits for a second. Then #3 for the Knights started to take over on offense hitting a three, plus a nice step back jumper followed by a really tough reverse layup he spun off the glass. #10 connected on a deep three and all the sudden we were tied 37 all! Yikes. But Jordan found Gavin for a clutch three to put us back on top. Las Lomas kept their foot on the gas taking a 42-40 lead on an offensive rebound and put back. With seconds winding down, Joe found Maddox in the corner for another huge three to give us the 43-42 lead! After some free throws it was 44 all going into the final stanza.

The first few minutes of the fourth were nerve wracking as both teams traded clutch buckets. On our first possession, Brady drove left to the hoop and scored with his right under the outstretched arm of his defender. #4 immediately answered with a step back jumper from the free throw line. Ian took matters into his own hands with a strong drive from the top of the key area for two. Then #3 scored inside after a nice pump fake. 48 all! The Knights read our inbounds play perfectly, getting the steal for a fast break layup to surge ahead but Brady answered with a smooth step back jumper. 50-50 with 5+ minutes to go.

Dons would take the lead for good on a critical drive from Gavin who was going to his left then shot a floater in the lane with his right that landed soft and rolled in. CLUTCH. Then Liam dropped an absolute DIME to Ian for the easy bucket. Gavin hit Liam who found another pot of gold at the end of his rainbow three. Ian added a tremendous tip in and just like that it was 59-50 Dons, an outstanding 2+ minute KNOCKOUT blow at just the right time! Gavin added another strong drive teardrop over his defender and a few free throws later we had our 64-54 final.

The Dons clutch shooting from three and at the line was a major factor in this one. We shot 42% from the field, 15/37 on 2FG (41%), a blistering 7/15 on 3FG (47%), and solid 13/16 from the line (81%). The Knights were 37% from the field, 17/40 (43%) on 2FG, and 8/10 (80%) from the line. Both teams handled the ball well with Acalanes having only 10 turnovers to 11 for Las Lomas. Dons won the battle of the boards 32-27.

Lots of tremendous performances in this one and a total team win. Maddox had the Double Double with 15 points on 6/11 shooting, 3/5 from deep to go along with 12 boards. Gavin went wire-to-wire with 15 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists and played some awesome defense on #20. Brady had 13 points, 7/8 from the line, 3 rebounds, 2 assists and team high +16 rating. Ian was +15 with 8 points, 3 rebounds and locked up #3 late. Liam had 8 points, 2/2 from deep and added 4 rebounds and 2 assists.

Dons advance to take on the defending NCS State Champions, the Clayton Valley Ugly Eagles tonight at 7pm in Concord. The Dons lost to the Eagles in Lafayette earlier this year by 22. Clayton got out to an early lead in that one and we were unable to close ground. They dominated inside, scoring about 30 more points in the paint, controlling the glass and we also had too many turnovers. But these Dons have played some of their best basketball in big games giving Serra, Campolindo and Ygnacio Valley (all top 25 SF Metro teams) all they could handle until the final buzzer in some very close games. Going to be electric there tonight, come on down and support this team!

GoFan link: https://gofan.co/event/1384372

NFHS Network should have live coverage (subscription required): https://www.nfhsnetwork.com/

MaxPreps: https://www.maxpreps.com/ca/lafayette/acalanes-dons/basketball/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/ACABoysBball

Photos Courtesy: @NicoleMalm, Unassociated Press