How’s that for a headline?  That’s exactly what Wednesday night’s contest vs the Clayton Valley Ugly Eagles was – parts were pretty but overall, it was pretty ugly and at the end it turned out to be a beautiful win for these DONS (17-5, 7-1) who now are in the driver’s seat to win the regular season league title.

Clayton (13-9, 4-2) has had some serious injuries to deal with this season, losing last year’s league MVP and Utah State D1 commit Elijah Perryman for the entire season with a foot injury as well as starter Vince Ellis.  Still this is a talented team with super Sophomore Zion Grissom, Lowell transfer Jett Tran and a ton of size inside via former Acalanes transfer Jaden McClane, and Juniors Cannon Simpson and Jacob Gentry.  This is really the only league team so far I’ve seen that can even come close to matching the DONS height.

Rocky beginning for both teams as each had two turnovers right off the bat.  Clayton got on the board first with a Gentry three. Another turnover for each team later, Brady found a cutting Ryder for two to crack the seal with 4:30 left in the quarter.  A Gentry hook inside plus three more DONS turnovers and another Gentry three put us down 11-2.  Then Ian found Cam for a much needed three.  Late in the quarter, Clayton inbounded the ball under their basket and threw a long ball into the back court.  McClane seemed confused about whether he could pick it up and Maddox blasted by him for the steal and easy lay in.  Clayton up 13-7 after one.  DONS just had to settle down.

Turnovers continued for both teams in the second as well as missed shots.  DONS were down 18-11 before Brady found Gavin for a top of the key three at the midway point.  The Malm Brothers then went to work with Ryder finding Maddox for a nice baseline jumper.  Ian made a really nice play hitting Maddox underneath for an easy two.  Then Ian hit Ryder inside for two and Maddox cleaned up an offensive rebound for two more.  22 all at the break!  Maddox had 8 points, Ryder 6 and Gavin 5.

The DONS grabbed their first lead of the game with 5 minutes left in the third when Ryder hit Chase for the and-1.  Ryder then found Maddox for a huge three to put us up 28-24.  But Clayton would answer by going on a 7-0 run to end the quarter up 31-28.  Another 6 turnover quarter for ACA with only 1 for Clayton.

The stage was set for a nail-biting finish with major league implications.  Clayton was still up three with 5 minutes left in the period when Gavin hit Maddox for another deep three, 33 ALL!  Clayton got the lead back with two free throws.  Maddox then hit Brady in the corner who drove the lane only to see his layup frustratingly roll in and out as McClane grabbed the board.  But Brady didn’t give up and was able to steal the ball from McClane drawing a shooting foul in the process.  Brady calmly went to the line and buried both – 35 ALL. 

Both teams tightened up and were unable to score over the next couple minutes.  Then with 50 seconds left, Brady used a Ryder high screen to get a step on his man and went to the rim for a gorgeous lefty shot off the glass plus the foul.  The Senior Captain, who had uncharacteristically struggled all night with the ball, let out a roar and came over to high five multiple bench players.  The DONS could taste it now.

Brady missed the free throw so Clayton was still very much alive.  Clayton ran their dribble hand off offense to get Tran a pretty good look from the top of the key.  He missed and Maddox corralled the rebound picking up the foul.  With the Clayton student section howling behind the hoop, Maddox got a nice shooter’s roll off the front of the rim on the first.  But he overcorrected a bit on the second hitting rim long and Clayton controlled the rebound, calling timeout. 

The DONS had fouls to give and used one with Gavin disrupting Clayton’s rhythm with about 10 seconds to go.  The Eagles definitely won the timeout battle in this one, using another one to set up the final play.  Gentry dribbled towards Tran who faked a down screen and flared back out to the three point line.  He was met by a very long left arm from Ryder who bothered the shot as it hit front rim and caromed to the other side in the arms of Maddox.  Two more free throws later and the 12 game losing streak to Clayton dating back to the 2017-2018 season was snapped!  40-35 FINAL.

HUDL Game Highlight:  http://www.hudl.com/v/2RdZh3

This was a gritty road win against a very physical, well coached opponent.  It was sloppy in many respects with all the turnovers and poor shooting but these are the kind of games the DONS need to prove they can win to make a deep run this year.  This matchup had the similar feel to the Campo game but we did not match their physicality in that one so it looks like this team has learned from that and has grown. 

The DONS shot 28% (12/43), 21% (4/19) from deep and 75% (12/16) from the line while the Ugly Eagles shot 25% (12/49), 18% (3/17) from deep and 89% (8/9) from the line.  DONS outrebounded the Eagles 36-27 but lost the turnover battle with 16 to their 11.

BALL MOVEMENT WATCH

Assists on FGs Made – 9 assists on 12 field goals (75%) – 65% considered good, >75% is ideal

Assist to Turnovers – 16 turnovers (0.56) – 1.00 considered good, >1.50 is ideal

Maddox led the way in this one with 17 points, 7 rebounds, 2 steals and a +15 rating.  Ryder had 6 points (all 1H) plus 10 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 blocks.  Gavin had 5 points (all 1H) and 6 rebounds.  Brady had 4 points, 2 assists and came up huge late in the game with massive plays.  Ian had 5 rebounds, 3 assists and really made his presence felt on defense as Grissom was 1/12 on the evening.  Cameron added 5 points and Chase 3 with his big and-1 to give us our first lead in the third.

The DONS move to 17-5, 7-1 and are still on top with Las Lomas  as the only 1 loss teams.  We own the head to head tiebreak so we really control our own destiny at this point if we win out.  Lomas is now 8-1 with a win over Berean last night but still has to travel to Northgate next week and host Clayton in their final game of the year.  The DONS face Benicia tonight at home with a 730PM tip.  The Panthers just trounced Campo by 14 in their last game so expect this to be a battle despite their record 12-10, 5-3.

You can tune in from home or anywhere in the world to hear this game come to life with the ACA Broadcasting Team featuring Hank Bauer on Play-by-Play and Donnie McGrath on Color tonight.  YouTube livestream can be found here. 

In case of technical difficulties, plan B is always the Hudl Fan stream but that will not have play-by-play.

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