On Tuesday the Dons took on the El Camino Wildcats in the first round of the Torrey Pines Holiday Classic in San Diego. El Camino is a local team so didn’t have to deal with the travel complications that plagued the Acalanes Family. Acalanes got off to a fast start with Jake tipping long to Justin Zegarowski who hit Jack Bayless for an opening layup.
The Dons then pounded it in to Jake Davis for a layup and Zubin Acuna and Zeg added 3s in the quarter. Jake collected 3 blocks and numerous rebounds in the quarter, as the Dons solidly outrebounded the Wildcats.
A late Colin Norstad putback made it 15-16 to cap the Q1 scoring.
An early Zubin 3 gave the Dons the lead to kick off Q2 but it turned into a defensive battle for a few minutes with good El Camino defense offset by good Dons rebounding. Bayless added a layup on a feed from Jake and Theo Stoll torched the full court press for a layup to leave it 22-26 at half.
Q3 started with El Camino white hot hitting 3 threes and getting out to a 12 point lead with about 6 minutes on the clock. The Dons regrouped and got baskets from Jake in the post and Brady Quinn, Jack, and Theo in transition along with a 3 from Zubin to cut it 6 at the period break 35-41.
Theo got a quick one in transition to start Q4 and Jake added another inside but El Camino continued to shoot well to hold the lead. Jake ran off 9 points in quick succession to keep it close but 3s and transition layups from the Wildcats had them clinging to a 5 point lead most of the quarter.
A 3 from Theo cut it to 4 with 2 minutes to play and the Dons needing a stop.
They got it with a steal from Jack which he converted for a layup to cut it to 2. Turnovers back and forth from both teams kept it a 2 point game with the Dons getting the ball back down 2 with 20 to play. The Dons ran some offense into a layup from Jack to tie it up and a late 3 from El Camino missed to send it OT. It wouldn’t be a tournament game for the Dons without overtime!
The Dons got out to a quick 4 point lead in OT on 2 more Bayless layups, but El Camino came back with a 2 and a 3 to take the lead. Theo got fouled with about 40 seconds left and made 1 of 2 to tie it up and again El Camino failed to score and we were into double overtime.
The Dons got their first 2 in second overtime with Jake hitting Jack on a backcut for a nice layup, and Jack returned the favor hitting Jake a few plays later.
El Camino again answered and with the score tied 65-65 we went to triple overtime. The fans were really getting their money’s worth!
El Camino grabbed the lead in the 3OT with 2 3s but a Theo transition layup and a huge Zuuuuubin 3 cut the lead back to 1 with 1 minute left and the Dons again needing a stop. And once again, they got it! Down 1 Theo got a transition layup to go up 1 bringing the crown the their feet. After yet another stop Theo got fouled and made 1 of 2 to give the Dons a 2 point lead. Once again a last second shot from El Camino fell short giving the Dons a hard fought victory over the locals! While the games were not streamed we will try and get Pat Carrillo’s expert recording posted! The Dons are now in the winners bracket and play tomorrow at 8:35. Great win Dons!