Kelly Smit takes a shot over a defender. Smit led the Dons in scoring with 26 points against Riverside City College. Photo courtesy of Tony McAndrew.
Kelly Smit takes a shot over a defender. Smit led the Dons in scoring with 26 points against Riverside City College. Photo courtesy of Tony McAndrew.
January 11, 2014

Dons Suffer First Conference Loss 63-55 to Riverside City College

Neither team shot well in the game but Riverside was able to find the edge as both teams move to 1-1 in the Orange Empire Conference.

Box Score

SANTA ANA - The Dons had their Orange Empire Conference record leveled to 1-1 following a 63-55 loss to visiting Riverside City College. Both offenses struggled through the game, but the Tigers edged the Dons with two more free throws and five more shots from the field to find the victory.

Riverside took a four-point lead into the half at 28-24 after the Dons held early leads as large as eight points. But Riverside would take the lead  on a three-pointer to break a 20-20 tie with 3:22 left in the half before breaking another tie with 1:07 left to take the lead for good.

The Dons found themselves trailing by as many as 16 points in the second half before rallying to cut the Tigers lead to seven points with 50 seconds remaining on a Kelly Smit three-pointer. But the Tigers would hold off the Dons in the final minute to go on to the eight point win.

Smit led all scorers with 26 points but was one of just two Dons scorers to break double digits, followed by Ashley Whisler with 21 points.