The Junior Varsity Boys Basketball team opened the John Rhodes Tournament with a victory. They crushed Piedmont by the score of 87-51.
Like their first game, the Dons jumped on their opponent early by going up 11-3. Lorenzo Cangini, #20, scored early with a three-point shot and a nice layup. Yet, Piedmont quickly countered with a 9-0 run, jumping ahead of the home team, by a score of 12-11. At this point, Coach Thomas called a time out to settle his team down and inserted Chase Bahou and Julian Hood into the lineup. The strategic move quickly paid off. Chase sliced through the Piedmont defense with layups, and if Piedmont collapsed on the Don’s point guard, he quickly found his back court mate, Julian, open for a three pointer. Julian knocked down several three pointers to give Acalanes a 24-12 lead by the end of the 1st quarter.
The energy of the 1st quarter carried over to the 2nd quarter. Bethel Imasuen started the quarter with a basket. Lorenzo Cangini, who was the Acalanes’ leading scorer with 16 points, contributed two nice layups. Coach Thomas called upon his deep bench often as he inserted AJ Hastings, Landon Deily, and Spencer Clark into the game. Each of these players contributed at least six points towards the Dons victory.
By the end of the third quarter, Acalanes was well ahead of its opponent by forty points. The team honored John Rhoes by showing incredible sportsmanship in the last quarter. Instead of increasing its lead, the young Don’s simply ran the clock down. It was a complete team victory.
After the game, Julian Hood, a vital component to the team’s 1st quarter turnaround, had this to say, “the team started off playing like individuals. We needed to start to play like a team. “The 5’11” shooting guard further added: “we knew if we brought the energy, we would start to play as team.”
The JV Dons look to build upon this victory against their next opponent, San Ramon. The second game of the tournament is scheduled for Friday, December 1, 2023, at 8:30pm. The game will be played at Acalanes’ main gymnasium.