| | Published January 15th, 2014
| Campo Takes First Game in Rivalry Series
| | By Conrad Bassett |  | | Matt O'Reilly had 11 points. Photos Gint Federas
|
The Lamorinda boys' basketball teams finished competitive preseason schedules and began DFAL regular season play last week.
Campolindo went 10-4, including wins over perennial powers Castro Valley and Burlingame. Acalanes went 9-3 defeating several teams from Marin and Sonoma counties.
Miramonte finished 8-5 despite missing three key players while they finished the football season.
In DFAL play, Campolindo beat Dougherty Valley in their opener while the Dons were surprised by Alhambra in a road loss in Martinez. On Jan. 10, the Dons traveled to Moraga where the Cougars won 72-49.
Dons' senior Matt Thomas opened the scoring with a three-point jumper from the corner to put the Dons up 3-0 early. Campo answered with a free throw followed by two jump shots from junior Matt O'Reilly. They went up 6-3 and did not relinquish the lead for the rest of the game.
After the game, O'Reilly said their success started in practice. "We practiced our plays all week and then played with intensity the entire game. We kept moving and always were looking for spots to get open. Andrew (Zolintakis) made some very good passes to help us get good shots."
O'Reilly finished with 11 points, including back-to-back threes at the end of the first quarter, helping elevate the Campo lead to 21-7.
Dons' junior Buster Souza started the second period with a dunk and Thomas added a put-back, but the Cougars answered with an 8-1 run and were never challenged again.
The Campo lead reached 67-38 early in the fourth. Campo started the period on a 10-0 run highlighted by a traditional three point play from sophomore Sterling Strother and five points from fellow sophomore Austin Clarke.
Junior Chris Hansen led a balanced Campo attack with 12 points while Zolintakis and senior Justin Dunn chipped in nine each.
Campo coach Matt Watson pointed to the balanced attack by noting that "AZ [Zolintakis] had 8 assists, one leading to the monster dunk by Hansen."
Thomas led the Dons with 19 points and Souza had 13.
After a bye, the Matadors opened their DFAL season on the road at Dublin. They came away from the game with a 69-63 win. The Mats were down by 11 points heading into the fourth period when they mounted a furious comeback behind Drew Anderson who burned the nets for 24 of his 34 points. He also added 14 rebounds.
Coach Drew McDonald said, "As we saw on Friday, Anderson hardly skipped a beat returning to basketball and has been our best offensive player. As we enter the league season, seniors Joey Goodreault, Drew and Ray Clark give us the strongest group of captains that we have had at Miramonte since I began as an assistant coach seven years ago."
All three teams played on Jan. 14 after our press deadline. They return to action at home on Jan. 17.
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 | | Matt Thomas led the Dons with 19 points.
|  | | Buster Souza had 13 points.
|  | | Andrew Zolintakis had 8 assists. | | | | | | | | | |
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Lamorinda Weekly, Moraga CA