The 17-5, 7-1 DONS hosted Benicia on a rainy Saturday night in Lafayette. Despite their 12-10, 5-3 record coming in, this was a dangerous Benicia team with the three league losses only by a combined 12 points.
The Panthers made their presence felt immediately, winning the tip as Barnes scored on a nice midrange jumper ten seconds into the game. DONS immediately answered with Ian threading the needle to Maddox off a Ryder back screen and he converted a tough bucket off the glass with his left from the right side. Brady found Gavin for a corner three. The Panthers scored inside and off a fastbreak. Ian penetrated for two and Ryder cleaned up a miss, DONS up 10-9 midway through the quarter. Benicia would go on a run from there with two buckets from big man Thompson and a tough step back two from Ocsona as they jumped out to an 18-12 lead after one.
There was a frenetic pace to the first half as both teams raced up and down the floor. Cam hit a much needed pull up three a minute into the second as the Dons were struggling to score. Brady hit a three to put us up 20-18 for a brief moment. Then Thompson went to work scoring at the rim and hitting a nice 13 footer in the lane plus assisting another Barnes 3. DONS down again 25-20 midway through. Cam hit another huge three, this time in the corner in front of the heckling Panthers fans, and he stared them down to let them know this is DONS COUNTRY. Barnes had a marvelous first half and answered with another triple as he would have 11 points at the half. Gavin found Ryder on a nice pick and roll. Ocsona answered with a pretty step back three in front of the DONS bench. Then Brady splashed another corner three as Acalanes would be 4/7 from deep in the period. DONS had multiple chance to score on the last possession but the Malm Brothers couldn’t get one to fall. 31-29 Benicia at the break. It felt good to be only down 2 at that point, DONS had to make some adjustments.
DONS came storming out of the locker room. Ian and Ryder had a nice give and go culminating in a Ryder alley-oop layup. Then Gavin pick pocketed the Benicia point guard and took it in for two, drawing the foul but was unable to convert the and-1. Brady hit on this third three of the game to give the DONS a 36-32 lead with 6 minutes to go as Benicia called time. The lead grew to 6 as Ian scored on a driving layup. Benicia responded with Thompson scoring on a fastbreak and Ocsona in the lane. DONS added two more from deep with Maddox finding Cam and Cam finding Gavin for huge buckets. DONS would win the quarter by 9 taking a 45-37 lead into the fourth.
Benicia quickly made it a game again going inside to Thompson and Barnes scoring on an acrobatic fast break layup. 45-42 DONS. Ryder came back in and immediately scored on a one armed putback with his right. Chase used a Ryder screen to get loose and bury a clutch jumper. Gavin and Ryder tried to connect for an alley-oop but the pass was a little high. However, Ryder was able to tip it in and the DONS went on a 8-0 run to push the lead up to 11. Gavin scored on a pretty finger roll in the lane then found Ian who quickly deposited it into the cup before Thompson could get to it. Brady put the icing on the cake as he scooped up a loose ball and scored on an up and under layup. That as all she wrote – DONS win 62-51!
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The DONS shot 40% (21/53) from the field, 32% 8/25 from deep and 63% (12/19) from the line. Panthers were 38% (21/56) from the field, 27% (4/15) from deep and 42% (5/12) from the stripe. Pretty even statistics with DONS a slight advantage on boards 40-36 and winning turnover battle by 1 with 12 to Benicia’s 13. However, Acalanes won points off turnovers 16-9 and second chance points 9-2.
Brady led the way in this one with 15 points, 3/4 from deep and a staggering +25! Cam had 12 points, 3/6 from deep with 2 steals. Ryder had another double double with 11 points and 10 rebounds plus 4 blocks. Gavin also had 11 points with 4 rebounds and 3 assists. Ian had 7 points with 6 rebounds and 4 assists. Maddox had 4 points with 6 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 steals.
BALL MOVEMENT WATCH
Assists on FGs Made – 11 assists on 21 field goals (53%) – 65% considered good, >75% is ideal
Assist to Turnovers – 12 turnovers (0.92) – 1.00 considered good, >1.50 is ideal
EXCITING DAL week coming up as the DONS are in control of their own destiny to take their first League Crown since the 2006-2007 campaign! All DONS have to do is win out over Miramonte, Concord and College Park as they hold the head-to-head tiebreaker with Las Lomas who is also 8-1. The Knights travel to Northgate tomorrow and play Clayton in their final game on 2/10. A DONS win and Las Lomas loss would be the perfect outcome tomorrow night.
College Park is in third right now at 7-2 but closes with Ygnacio tomorrow, Campo Thursday and Acalanes on 2/10. There are four teams with 3 losses including Northgate, Campo, Ygnacio and Clayton. As a reminder the top two teams for regular season will get automatic NC berths. There will also be a 6 team league tournament to determine the other NCS berth with he Finals being hosted at Acalanes on Saturday, February 15th. The top two teams will receive a first round bye.
The DONS are now 18-5, 8-1 and have moved up to 113th in the State, 14th in NCS and 26th in SF Metro per MaxPreps. Acalanes is also 21st in the West Coast Preps Bay Area Rankings.
DONS travel to Miramonte tomorrow night at 730PM to avenge another loss from last season where the Matadors won in OT on our home floor. Miramonte 11-12, 2-7 is in a bit of a rebuilding phase with a lot of younger players and new Coach Mike Shaughnessy.
DONS DUNK-O-METER: 22 (NC) Click to see some of the BEST DUNKS of the YEAR!
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Photos Courtesy: Nicole Malm
