JV hoops dropped the opener of the John Rhodes Memorial Tournament to Cardinal Newman (aka De La Salle of the North Bay) 53-40.
The Rhodes Tournament is the annual JV tournament hosted by the Dons to honor former student John Rhodes who was lost in a tragic car accident just two months before he graduated in 2002. Rhodes was a 6’5″ “larger than life” figure that had made two game winning three’s in his senior year on the basketball squad and was planning to attend Cal Berkeley where he had been invited to row on the crew team. Let us all take a moment to remember John and be grateful for this opportunity to play these games to honor his memory.
The JV squad was almost back at full strength welcoming Freshmen Josh Elerts and Cameron Hood plus Sophomores JB Frolich and Drew McKenzie back from injuries and adding Junior Liam Gallacher to the roster off a successful Cross Country campaign. Sophomore Maddox Malm was the only one out due to an illness that has ripped through most of the team the past couple weeks.
Starting for the Dons were Freshmen Gavin Dodge and Josh Elerts, Sophomores Nico Ortman and JB Frolich, and Junior Alex Butler. The Dons got off to an early 1-0 lead before the tip as Dodge converted 1 of 2 on a Newman technical foul for dunking and hanging on the rim in warm-ups. A three from Junior Jake Elerts put us up 6-4 but, spoiler alert, that was unfortunately the last lead the Dons would see on the night. A Butler layup kept it close down 1 before Newman started to break loose with a three and a costly steal and fastbreak bucket to end the quarter down 17-9. #15 Jannicelli for Newman put on a clinic in the quarter scoring 12. The Dons were 3/15 from the field and 2/6 from the free throw line which would turn out to haunt them all evening.
The second started with a carbon copy poor pass and fastbreak layup by #15 and a step back three to put us down 22-9. Freshman Preston Hilsabeck found Dodge for a pretty and-1 to cut the lead to 23-12. Then we had our first Elerts Bros. connection of the season with Josh hitting Jake down low. After an acrobatic Ortman left hand finish the Dons still trailed by 13 before #3 hit another deadly step back sending Newman into the locker room with a 32-16 halftime advantage. Dons shot 6/29 (38%) from the field in the first half on 6 assists with 7 turnovers. We were just 1/9 from three and 3/8 from the line. Fouls were starting to pile up with 11 total.
The Dons came charging out in the third with a new lineup consisting of Gallacher, Frolich, the Elerts Bros. and Sophomore Avyn Morales. Gallacher looked good running point, constantly pushing the tempo and creating things on offense. The scoring started with Frolich to Josh Elerts in the post for the and-1, then Gallacher to Frolich for the finish, and Gallacher drawing a foul on a coast-to-coast drive converting 1/2 to make the score 32-22. The Dons continued their run with another lefty finish by Ortman on the dish from Jake Elerts, a Morales follow up and a Jake Elerts fadeaway off a nice inbounds play. The Dons had cut the lead to just 6 down 34-28! But Newman started to stabilize things and assert themselves again as #15 had consecutive baskets on a three and nice 2 inside. Butler converted 1/2 free throws and Hilsabeck had a nice steal at the end of the quarter as the Dons went into the fourth trailing 42-30. We were 5/10 from the field in the third, 4/8 from the FT line and had 4 turnovers.
The final stanza started on a good note with Ortman hitting Junior Conor Hession to cut the lead to 10. The missed free throws started piling up for the Dons though. #24 for Newman hit a corner three to make it 45-32 before Hession answered with a three of his own on a nice look from Hood. Morales added a nice block on D and a layup from Sophomore Cole Gwaltney got the lead back to 10. Newman called timeout with just over three to play and found #15 on the deep look for the proverbial nail in the coffin. Morales entertained the crowd with a beautiful behind the back flashy layup but the Dons would ultimately come up short in this one.
Final numbers for Acalanes were 15/55 from the field (27%) and 8/24 from the FT line (33%). An average showing at the line would have made this a completely different game and I think that’s really where this one was lost. We finished with 36 rebounds, 9 assists, 7 steals and 13 turnovers. Everything was fairly balanced for the Dons who played 14 different players in the contest. High scorers were the Junior Crew of Jake Elerts with 7 and Hession and Butler with 5 apiece. Morales pulled down 8 boards and Butler had 6. Josh Elerts and Sophomore Sam Bishop each had 2 assists. Newman was led by #15 Janicelli with 21 while #22 Delaney added 12 and #24 Bruno had 10.
Next up for the Dons they face Redwood today at 5:30pm. Redwood lost a tough battle with our local rival Campolindo last night and will be a challenging matchup. If you can’t make it live to support your team, you can always catch the home games on the livestream at: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmySEerOdASCV66MMcb-69w
Have a great day everyone and GO DONS!!!!