AC Davis Drops Marquee Matchup 62-52 against #10 Union
Two storied Washington basketball schools took the hardwood Thursday night in Camas, Washington.
Davis was undefeated headed into Thursday's contest. While Union had only lost to #6 Kentwood and #4 Timberline.
"Live by the three" is what Union did against Davis. 39 of Unions 62 points were of the three-point variety.
"We knew they were good shooters from the outside, they moved the ball around looking for their shots," said Davis assistant coach Vicente Sanchez, "we were ready for it, but at the same time we had to account for the size they had inside. Credit to them they lived by the three tonight."
An estimated 150 Davis fans made the 190 mile journey to witness this contest. They were as hot as could be as they rallied around their hometown team.
With Davis down 17-11; Davis point guard Alexzander Delgado hit an uplifting three that made the score 17-14 going into the second quarter.
Davis went cold shooting in the second quarter, Collin Kelly and Alexzander Delgado combined for just eight points.
At the same time, Union star Tyler Combs hit three of his game leading four three-pointers in the second quarter. This made the score 31-24 at halftime.
Union's Tyler Combs was expected to keep building on his huge first half, but instead Davis got a heavy dose of Union's junior guard Ethan Smith. Smith hit multiple three-pointers in both the third and fourth quarter.
"You just have to be aware of where everybody is, you can't just zone in on one player because someone else will get you," said Davis forward Collin Kelley on the difficulty of guarding multiple players.
Miscommunication led to a 50-37 deficit for Davis early in the fourth quarter.
"We came into the fourth quarter a little sluggish. We were a out of position, we didn't get our hands up on shooters," said a wary Collin Kelley.
The 6-7 Collin Kelley would go on to try and fuel the comeback.
He finished with eight points in the fourth quarter. Including a monstrous ally-oop dunk assisted by Brock Williams, and a devastating block off the backboard.
The comeback peaked when sophomore guard Earl Lee hit a three-pointer at the top of the key to make it 58-52.
But with only two minutes left on the clock; it was too little to late. Union dribbled the clock down to a 62-52 victory.
Davis will have to flush this one as soon as they get back on the bus. Because they are booked this Saturday evening with the #1 ranked team Gonzaga Prep.
Gonzaga Prep is is 8-0 on the season, and led by 6-7 210lb Gonzaga commit Anton Watson.
"Gonzaga Prep is a quality program, they've been that way for a long time. They'll have more size than Union, they like to outlet and go. We've seen what they did last year, so we'll be ready," Coach Sanchez said giving his thoughts on Gonzaga Prep.
A win over Gonzaga Prep would put Davis on every basketball fan's radar across the state.
AC Davis vs Gonzaga Prep will tip-off this Saturday 4:00PM at Davis High. You can also tune into this marquee match-up on 1460 ESPN Yakima.