By Tommy Fellner// The Acalanes Men’s basketball team (8-8, 1-1 DFAL) got a much needed win this Friday night, defeating Las Lomas 59-46.
The Dons were in need of a win after their blowout loss to Miramonte on Tuesday night, and they went into the game knowing they would have to play nearly perfect to defeat Las Lomas, a team many had picked to win the league. Despite missing a starter, the Knights were still expected to walk over the Dons.
After Las Lomas went up 7-0 in the first, fans were afraid it was going to be a repeat of the Miramonte game. Led by senior Alex Kinnear, the Dons went on a run and closed out the first down 14-13.
With renewed confidence, the Dons took control of the second quarter. Acalanes outscored the Knights 17-10, largely a result of solid defense and pressuring Las Lomas’ shooters. Acalanes led 30-24 going into half.
Acalanes continued to roll coming out of the half. The Dons extended the lead by 3, outscoring Las Lomas 16-13 in the third to take a 46-37 lead. The Knights continued to struggle on offense, especially perimeter shooting and the Dons continued to feed the ball to big man Kinnear who finished around the basket.
In the fourth quarter it looked as if the Dons would close out this game and get a huge win. However, halfway through the fourth Kinnear received his fifth and final foul. This left the Dons without their top offensive weapon, and they looked shaky. Las Lomas capitalized on this and scored 4 points within 30 seconds to make the score 49-45.
Fortunately, senior Nico Brightbill came to the rescue. Brightbill received the ball at the top of the key, drove to his left and kissed the ball off the glass and into the basket with his left hand. Brightbill also fouled out Las Lomas’ top player, Devin Payne, and connected on his free throw to complete the 3 point play. This gave the Dons a 7 point lead and all the momentum.
Following the play, Acalanes closed out the game on a 7-1 run and got a huge rebound win over Las Lomas, 59-46.
Kinnear finished the game with 22 points and 8 rebounds. Jesse Marlow had 12 points. Brighbill finished with 9 points and 7 boards. And Aidan McNamara and Andrew McKendell both had 5 assists.
Acalanes’ next game is against Dougherty Valley on January 14th.