The 11th Annual Chris Huber Memorial Basketball Tournament tipped off in Lafayette on Thursday with a full slate of four games, three of which came down to the wire.
The tournament honors the Acalanes icon who left us in 2021 after a long battle with Parkinson’s. “Huuuuuuberrrrrr” as his beloved students typically referred to him, joined the Acalanes community in 2002 after a legendary run as El Cerrito High School’s Varsity Basketball Coach. He was primarily a PE and Math teacher at ACA but left his imprint on the basketball program too as for 20 years he was either the JV Boys Coach, Varsity Boys Assistant or Varsity Girls Coach. He had many famous quotes but none more so than “It’s a beautiful day in Lafayette, California!”
Please take some time to read “In Memory of Chris Huber” for more memories and stories about this amazing human being: https://acalanesblueprint.com/2021/01/28/in-memory-of-chris-huber/
The first was a fast-paced ping pong like game with both teams taking and missing tons of shots. It was 17 all at the end of one with the Dons going 7/19 from the field with assists on all 7 made buckets.
The teams exchanged buckets in the second then DeAnza started to creep away up by four before the Dons came back to take the lead 28-27 going into the half. As the teams left the floor the DeAnza coach got a technical foul for arguing with the officials on a missed goaltending call. He may have been correct but he went too far and Gavin Dodge buried both free throws after the break for a 30-27 lead to start the third. The Don shooting was even worse in the second going 5/20 from the field.
The Dons started to separate and were up 45-37 after a Ryder Malm and-1 with a few minutes left in the third. DeAnza hung tough despite going 4/11 from the line in the quarter and took the lead back at one point. Then the Malm Brothers found each other as Maddox dropped a dime to Ryder for a smooth up and under finish. After a rare DeAnza three (2/19 on the night!), Preston Hilsabeck hit Gavin Dodge on an inbounds for a huge three as time expired, 50-49 Dons going into the fourth.
The fourth was one for the ages. Ryder opened scoring with a tip in then Maddox again found a cutting Ryder again for two more. Gavin pulled down an offensive board finding Jordan Brown for the shooter’s touch on a critical three to extend the lead to 6 with 6 to play. The entire bench erupted after as DeAnza was forced to call a timeout. Ryder answered DeAnza’s bucket out of the TO with a nice fadeaway move. The next few minutes was very sloppy play by both teams until Ryder rebounded a missed free throw to put us up 62-56. DeAnza turned up the defensive intensity forcing 8 Acalanes turnovers in the period as the Dons were clinging to the lead. Could they hold on????
With a couple minutes left, Gavin hit a CLUTCH midrange jumper to make the score 64-58. DeAnza narrowed the gap to three before Ryder found Maddox on a backdoor cut what would prove to be a gigantic bucket. DeAnza got it back to within three and had a couple missed three’s late as the Dons continued to leave the door open with turnovers and missed free throws. Gavin added one from the line and it was 67-65 Dons with 4.7 left. The Dons picked up full court as DeAnza inbounded and got it to #1 in the middle who raced to the top of the key and fired up a shot at the buzzer over the outstretched hand of Gavin…..CLANK off the back of the rim. The Dons survive and advance in an absolute thriller. I’d like to give Huber the assist on that last one.
Some crazy stats in this game. The Dons shot 27/71 from the field (38%) including 7/24 from three (29%) and 6/13 from the line (46%). We outrebounded them 57-34 and won second chance points 23-23-3. We had 20 assists on 27 made buckets but also 22 turnovers to DeAnza’s 8. Gavin was incredible, playing 31 minutes and finishing with 23 points, 13 rebounds and 2 steals. Maddox went for 13 points, 13 rebounds and 3 blocks in 30 minutes. Jordan was a team high +14 and had 10 points with two huge three’s (plus one that was mistakenly scored a two in the first quarter). Liam had 7 assists and Preston had another great +/- of +8. Then there’s Ryder who had only played in 4 minutes the first 4 games of the year and checked in with 6 minutes left in the third and never left. He dominated the interior, finishing with 13 points on 6/10 shooting, plus 9 rebounds and the assist on the game winning bucket.
The Dons face 5-0 Monte Vista this evening in the PRIMETIME slot at 8:30pm. Other matchups include: Alhambra vs. St. Joseph Notre Dame at 4pm, Piedmont vs. DeAnza at 5:30pm and, in the Winner’s Bracket, Wood Creek vs. Dougherty Valley at 7pm. All games will be livestreamed at: https://youtube.com/@acalaneshubergym1200?si=ysC2OYG958B17ACv
For game stats and highlights: https://www.maxpreps.com/ca/lafayette/acalanes-dons/basketball/
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