The DONS (18-5, 8-1) made their way up Moraga Road on a very wet and windy Tuesday evening to face the Miramonte Matadors (11-12, 2-7). Miramonte is a young squad with only one player over 6’3” and was also missing their main scorer, Preston Rguem. DONS were without some firepower of their own with Senior Captain Maddox Malm missing this one.
Ryder wasted no time going to work in the paint as Ian set him up with a nice bounce pass in the lane for the easy two. Ian was dropping dimes all over hitting Cam for a baseline jumper and a nice little alley-oop to Ryder for the layup. Gavin picked up a steal in the press and raced down floor unabated for the FLUSH! 10-5 DONS. The Mats came to play though, answering with two buckets to cut the lead to 1. Then Ian hit Ryder who stroked a three right in front of the home student section. Joe made his return after missing three games with a nice free throw jumper. Gavin picked up another count of unarmed robbery in the backcourt finding Brady underneath for the easy two. But the Mats hung tough getting some good looks in the lane and DONS had a 19-15 lead after one.
Miramonte apparently did not get the memo on who the new Sheriff in town is as they continued to scrap, knocking down a couple mid-range shots while Ryder played volleyball with himself inside for two more DONS buckets. Then Miramonte got a big three halfway through the period to tie it at 24 as the student section went nuts. The Mats Freshman guard #21 would score 3 of the next 4 buckets giving the home team a 32-29 advantage at the break. Ryder kept things close scoring all 8 points in the quarter and 19 total in the half. Mats shot 55% from the field in the half but it felt like 75%. Oh boy, here we go…could the DONS title hopes be crushed by the 2-7 Mats?
No idea what was said in that locker room but bottle it up and sell it because the DONS went nuclear out of the gates. It was a DONS avalanche of epic proportions and 5 minutes later we were up 20 points with Miramonte on serious life support. It started with a Brady bucket inside from Cam, a Ryder putback and then a huge offensive rebound and tough baseline finish from Cam. After a Mats TO, Gavin erupted for 13 points in a little over 2 minutes with a three, a putback, an alley-oop layup from Ian, a pull-up jumper and 4 free throws to boot. Cam and Chase added three’s and there it was 57-37 DONS 3 mins left in the third. Ryder continued to accumulate points inside with Joe finding him for a nice lefty shot off the glass. Then Chase picked up a rebound and fired a full court two handed pass to Brady who fired it off the glass in a blink of an eye to Ryder who elevated and SLAMMED it home with AUTHORITY. The bench erupted and the die-hard ACA student section lost their minds. Official time of death: 8:35PM. The DONS went on a 22-1 run and outscored Miramonte 31-20 in the quarter.
In the fourth, Joe threaded the needle to Brady and Gavin found Joe inside. Julian whipped a pass through two defenders to Preston inside for two then knifed through 3-4 Mats for a lefty layup. Josh found Landon for a nice reverse and Arman hit Lorenzo for the final deuce. DONS win going away 79-56.
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The DONS shot 48% (29/61) from the field, 27% (4/15) from deep and 71% (17/24) from the line while the Mats were 41% (22/53) from the field, 26% (5/19) from three and 41% (7/17) from the line. DONS almost doubled up the Mats on the boards 45-23and turnovers were even at 12 apiece.
Ryder led the way with career highs in points (28) and rebounds (15), going 11/15 from the field and 5/6 from the line with +26. Gavin had the huge Q3 finishing with 17 points on 5/9 plus 7 rebounds, 3 assists, and 3 steals. Cameron had 10 points and 4 rebounds. Brady had 7 points, 3 assists and 2 steals. Ian had a team high 6 assists and 5 rebounds.
BALL MOVEMENT WATCH – BEAUTIFUL!!!
Assists on FGs Made – 19 assists on 29 field goals (65%) – 65% considered good, >75% is ideal
Assist to Turnovers – 12 turnovers (1.58) – 1.00 considered good, >1.50 is ideal
TONIGHT IS THE NIGHT! Not only is it Senior Night, but with Northgate’s win over Las Lomas on Tuesday the DONS can clinch their first league title since 2006-2007 with a win. Tipoff is at 730PM. Come celebrate our Seniors Chase Bahou, Maddox Malm, Brady Quinn, Ian Salmon and Joe Reidenbach which starts at 7:10PM prior to the game. And make sure you hang around until the final buzzer to hopefully celebrate a LEAGUE TITLE with these DONS!!!
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DONS DUNK-O-METER: 24 (+2) Click to see some of the BEST DUNKS of the YEAR!
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Photos Courtesy: Nicole Malm
