It felt a little like starting the season all over again as this was the Team’s first game in 18 days as they had to take some time off due to Coronavirus exposures forcing them to miss the Campolindo Tournament. The long break plus not being able to practice as a team at all for part of the time and still missing some key players this past week was just too much to overcome.
The game started with some high energy back and forth action but Washington started to pull away at the end of the first with two 3’s giving them a 15-11 advantage. They never relinquished the lead the rest of the way.
The Huskies defensive full court pressure gave the Dons fits all night long leading to many turnovers and trouble inbounding the ball. Washington opened the second on an 8-0 run extending the lead to 23-11. The Dons made a valiant push to get back in the game at that point on two Avyn Morales buckets – a three and a breakaway layup, followed by a Sam Bishop three that brought us back to 24-19. That was as close as the Dons got the rest of the night as the Huskies pulled away by halftime 29-21.
Washington opened the second half with two more 3’s quickly extending their lead to 35-22. After losing a little more ground, the Dons mounted one last rally on another Morales bucket, followed by back to back Drew McKenzie and Morales put backs bringing the score to 41-28. Gianni Clark (#4) ended the third with an exclamation point hitting his fourth 3 of the period putting the Huskies up 48-32.
After battling hard all night, the starters ran out of gas in the fourth period. Coach Eric Turner emptied the bench with a few minutes left but the adrenaline provided by this group was just too little too late. Cole Gwaltney played especially well during this stretch, hitting all four free throws while pushing the tempo and mixing it up on both ends of the floor. The final score was 58-42 bringing the Dons back to .500 on the year (2-2).
Avyn Morales led the way for the Dons again with 11 points, Sam Bishop had 9 while filling in for Nico Ortman at point guard, and Drew McKenzie chipped in 8. The Huskies were led by 19 from Gianni Clark (#4) while Harshil Kurapati had 12 (#1) and big man Genaro Tinajero had 10 (#13). Washington outscored the Dons by fifteen from three point range by 7-2. The Dons struggled again from the line going 12 for 28 (43%) while Washington shot 9 for 15 (60%).
The Dons will look to get back on track in their next game on Tuesday, December 21st at Amador Valley at 2pm. Onward and upward!
