Home-opener victory as Dons slash Vaqueros

The Santa Ana Dons men’s basketball team survived a thriller at their first home game against the Glendale Vaqueros, wrapping up with an 84-79 victory Saturday afternoon.

The win lifts Santa Ana to 2-0 this season, while Glendale slips to 0-2, underscoring the Vaqueros’ early-season woes after losing their own home opener 76-74 to Santiago Canyon on October 30.

“We definitely rotated our bigs in the middle of the paint … We made some silly mistakes down the stretch that allowed them to stay in it but I thought for the most part as a group we kinda stayed together,” said Dons assistant coach Chris Nordstrom.

Point guard Christian Jimenez slinging a cross-court pass as part of his nine-assist game. Photo by Brandon Rowley / el Don

The Dons led 16-3 in the opening moments of the game and led 45-35 at the half.

Freshman forward Kelvin Paul led the Dons in scoring with 15 points. Meanwhile, sophomore guard Cameron Swist and freshman guard Aaron De Santiago both contributed 11 points alongside five and four rebounds, respectively.

“I thought Glendale played extremely well in the second half … I thought the pressure hurt us a little bit,” said Dons head coach David Breig.

Following the first half, the Dons’ lead shrank. Emerging with renewed purpose, Santa Ana flipped the script on the rebounding front as Glendale tried to stage a miraculous comeback but failed.

Sophomore Cameron Swist is shooting 50% from three to open the season. Photo by Brandon Rowley / el Don

After the final minute, Santa Ana had defeated Glendale by just five points.

“We just work hard, you know, we prepare for these moments,” said Dons point guard Cameron Swist.

Santa Ana led in bench points 27-24, second chance points by a margin of 20-7, field goal percentage by a margin of 40.5%-39.4%, turnovers 16-12 and points in the paint 38-18.

Brandon Blair led Glendale with 19 points and three successful three-pointers.