Bears beat Dons 51-45

Coach Luther praised the Don team for scrappy play. The close score reflects the home team’s effort, but maybe the Bears had used some of their emotional and physical reserves in last night’s overtime loss. Whatever the reason, 11 of the healthy visitors played. Tim Hetterman was sidelined tonight. The first quarter was marked by Landon’s aggressive play.

The Bear guards (Addison Sarter, Deion Wellington,in particular) harassed the Dons as they brought the ball up, forcing them to turn the ball and disrupting their play. Chris Hudnut asserted himself under the boards and the offense came from Joe McDonald and Darion Atkins, End of 1st Quarter Bears 14– Dons 8.

The home team changed its defense to a zone to start the next period and the Bears allowed the score to creep up to 14-12 after two and a half minutes. Turnovers forced by Joe and Addison resulted in baskets by those players and the lead was back up to 25-19 with 3 minutes remaining. Coach Luther brought in some fresh legs, bringing in Robert Leachman, Max Kra and Cyrus House during this and the 3rd period. Landon 27 Loyola 20 at half.

Kellen Miller and Isiah Colclough made it tough on the Dons when they got the ball; they forced several turnovers to set the tone in the 3rd. On offense, Chris hit a nice shot, Addison drove the lane for a nice hoop, Joe hit a sweet jumper from the top of the key followed by a drive and Max hit a long two pointer. End of the 3rd quarter the visitors maintained their seven point margin, Landon 37 Loyola 30.

The Dons came out in the last period with the sort of intensity that is needed to compete in the A Division of the MIAA. A full court press caused some Bear turnovers. For Landon, this was a stretch of the contest during which a lot of the players, who spent a lot of time on the Saint John’s court, rested. At 6:40 0f this last period, the margin was 1, Bears 37-36. Darion, Joe and Addison scored points and with 3 minutes left they led 44-37. The Dons did not relent and brought the margin back to 2 points at 40 seconds. Darion (2) and Deion (3) made key foul shots to create the final differential. The BIG GUY blocked a couple of the Dons’ shots amd brought down rebounds that mattered.

FINAL SCORE BEARS 51-45

LANDON SCORING

(STATS courtesy of Jack Falvey- THANKS)

McDonald 17

Atkins 8

Sarter 8

Hudnut 6

Miller 5

Wellington 5

Kra 2

Next game 12/17 Mercer Invitational, Hill School