The DONS (13-4, 4-0) travelled to San Marin HS in Novato Saturday night to play in the MLK John Lewis Memorial Classic against a red-hot Marin Catholic team (10-10, 3-0), winners of 5 of their last 6 games. There were six games in all at the Classic and the DONS were in one of the primo evening spots along with the marquee matchup following their game which was Dublin vs Monterey Trail.
Let’s get after it folks! DONS looked good early on offense, executing with precision and scoring on what seemed like almost every possession. After we gave up the first two of the game, Ian blasted a full court pass over the entire Wildcat defense to find Brady for the pump fake and easy layup. Next Gavin got an offensive board and found Maddox in the corner who drained a three. Maddox then pinned a Wildcat shot on D and Gavin found him again on a back door cut this time with an alley-oop pass for the reverse layup. The Wildcats would answer back with a 2 and a 3 tying the score at 7 apiece. Ryder slung a pass to Ian in the corner who slashed his way to the hoop for two and then Ian found Ryder on a fast break who came in from the side for the one hand jam. DONS let the Wildcats have too many open three’s though and they hit on 4 of them so despite the strong offense we were down 18-16 after one.
The Wildcats hit another three to open the second seizing a 21-16 lead but that would be their last three of the half. Maddox got a put back and-1 and then Joe found Gavin who hit a corner three putting us ahead 22-21. Ryder tipped it to himself off the glass and finished inside. The rest of the quarter was mostly free throws until Maddox hit a Nowitzki-esque high arching baseline fadeaway jumper to give the DONS a 28-27 lead at the break.
Marin scored on their first possession of the third and then never scored again in the quarter. Ian found Ryder on a pick and roll inside for an easy bucket. Brady hit Ian for another nice smooth drive to the bucket. Then Ryder literally played pinball with himself going 1/5 with 4 offensive rebounds on one play plus getting the and-1 on the make. He did it again next time down only needing two attempts this time and drawing another and-1. The Wildcats had no answer inside for the Big Fella. Ian got an outlet pass and streaked up the floor for another easy deuce. 43-29 DONS after three.
Wildcats would not go away easy hitting a three to open the fourth. But Cam found Joe, back after missing the last two, for one of his trademark top of the key threes….SWISH! Gavin went coast to coast holding off his defender with a nice finish in the lane, 49-32 DONS. Marin ripped off a nice 7-0 run to make things interesting and cut it down to 10. Ian answered with another drive with a nice dribble hesitation to freeze the defender and the rest was history. DONS win 56-42.
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The DONS shot 40% (19/53) from the field, 23% (3/13) from deep, and 71% (15/21) from the stripe. The Wildcats shot 26% (16/61), 20% (8/40) from deep, and 100% (2/2) from the line. We dominated the glass 45-28 but lost the turnover battle with 19 to their 11. However, points off turnovers were even at 7 apiece.
Maddox led the way with another Double Double plus team highs of 15 points, 10 rebounds, 2 blocks and +16. Ian had another masterpiece with 12 points, 8 rebounds, 4 assists and +16. Ryder also had a Double Double with 12 points and 11 rebounds. Gavin had 10 points with 5 rebounds.
DONS move to 14-4 on the season, winners of 7 straight and 9 of their last 10. Next up for the DONS are two home games this week. Wednesday we take on Alhambra (8-10, 1-4) and the moment we’ve all been waiting for since schedules were released, the Friday night rematch against Campolindo (14-5, 4-1). Both games tipoff at 730PM.
DONS DUNK-O-METER: 20 (+1) Click to see some of the BEST DUNKS of the YEAR!
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Photos Courtesy: Nicole Malm
Link to GALLERY from game!
