Aragon lights up Hillsdale

But when the Dons are draining the trey, things can get ugly for the opposition in a hurry.

Friday night against Hillsdale, Aragon was making its 3s. The Dons were also making their 2s. In fact, there wasn't much the Dons missed all night as they buried the Knights 96-58.

"I thought we came out and played pretty well," Aragon coach Kari Huxford said in the understatement of the night. "It started rolling. It was one of those games where we could do no wrong."

How hot were the Dons? They made as many baskets (35) as Hillsdale attempted. Aragon shot a blistering 51 percent from the field (35 for 58) and was 11 for 18 from behind the 3-point line - eight of which came in the first half.

"We've had a long drought," said Aragon forward Sean Mosman, who scored a team-high 21 points. "It feels good to finally break out."

Aragon (4-3 PAL South) was coming off a disappointing 72-63 loss to Menlo-Atherton on Wednesday but the Dons apparently put that game behind them and came out bombing against Hillsdale (1-6). Mosman had 10 points in the first quarter but it was Matt Arbunich who sparked the Dons to a 23-16 advantage after the first quarter.

Arbunich, a good outside shooter who usually comes off the bench, got the start Friday night because Huxford said she expected Hillsdale to come out in a zone. Arbunich lived up to the expectations by draining two 3-pointers and finishing with eight of his 13 points in the first quarter.

"Matt hit a couple of shots early that really got us going," Huxford said.

Although Hillsdale was still in the game heading into the second quarter, Aragon quickly put the Knights in its rearview mirror. The Dons opened the second quarter with a 14-5 run to take a 37-21 advantage with 4:21 left in the half.

The Knights made a brief run to cut the lead to 13, 40-27, on a Pat Drieth bucket with 2:19 remaining. But the Dons outscored Hillsdale 11-2 the rest of the way with three different players hitting 3-pointers in the process as the Dons took a 51-29 lead into the locker room.

The second half was more of the same. Arbunich hit a 2-pointer and a 3-pointer back to back to start the second half to put Aragon up 56-29. The rest of the quarter turned into a free-throw shooting contest with both teams combining to shoot 16 for 18 from the line.

When Mosman hit two free throws with 4:31 left in the third, he was the final Aragon starter to take a seat as the Dons subs went the rest of the way. Everyone on the Dons roster had at least two points and came real close to hanging 100 on the Knights.

"We didn't want to disrespect (Hillsdale) by leaving our starters in," Mosman said. "But our subs did a great job."

As has been the case for most of the season, Drieth was about Hillsdale's only option offensively as he finished with a game-high 24 points. Jimmy Murphy and Eddie Attaway combined for 17 but the Knights did not have enough firepower to contend with the Dons.

Despite giving up 24 to Drieth, the Dons defense did a good job of keeping the Knights go-to man in check. After Matangi Tonga picked up two quick fouls defending Drieth, Dominic Williams came in and did an admirable job despite giving up four or five inches.

"We think we have good enough guys to play [Drieth] straight up," Mosman said. "I don't think there's anyone in the league we can't handle."