A night after falling at home to Colgan by double digits, Dominion put together a much better performance on the road against Independence Thursday night, defeating the Tigers 60-52.
Against Colgan, the Titans shot 2-21 from long range. Right out of the gate against Independence, the Titans hit three treys en route to an early 13-4 lead.
“The message after yesterday was ‘let it fly’ still, shoot it with confidence,” said Ryan Williams, Dominion’s first-year head coach. “Nobody’s mad if you miss a shot, we want drive and kick threes, paint touches–the boys shot the ball with confidence.”
Independence never played or shot well enough to recover from their early deficit. The Tigers pulled to within five points on several occasions, but Dominion responded each time they did. Often it was the Titans’ Giorgio Elia providing a key basket at the rim. Elia scored 12 of his game-high 18 points in the second half.
One other aspect of the game WIlliams was pleased with was his team’s defense. Independence only really got consistent offense going the last six minutes of the game, and the Titans held the Tigers to under 36% shooting from the field.
“Our identity all year has started on the defensive end,” said Williams. “Defense, defense, defense. We’ve made some adjustments and I think tonight it paid off. Our goal every game is to keep the other team under 55 points and tonight we got the dub.”
Junior guard Jaden Beyer added 13 points for Dominion (3-3). He was responsible for two of the Titans’ three early treys and 10 of his points came before intermission, with a final three-pointer coming in the second half. Senior guard Jakob Jude Salgado had 10 points, and led the team in rebounding with seven.
Independence (1-4) didn’t have many bright spots on the evening, but one of them was junior guard Sebastian Enderes. Enderes gave the team a spark off the bench with efficient play, and 11 points.
–Chris Jollay
all statistics are unofficial
| DOMINION | FG | FT | TP | REB | AST | |
| JUDE SALGADO | 2-4 | 4-5 | 10 | 7 | 2 | |
| FEIGENBAUM | 1-4 | 0-0 | 2 | 3 | 1 | |
| BEYER | 4-9 | 2-4 | 13 | 2 | 1 | |
| SIGUENZA | 0-3 | 0-0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | |
| ELIA | 5-9 | 8-9 | 18 | 6 | 2 | |
| Daignault | 2-3 | 3-6 | 7 | 3 | 0 | |
| Dyson | 3-5 | 0-0 | 7 | 1 | 0 | |
| Afsoos | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |
| Kahin | 1-6 | 0-0 | 3 | 1 | 2 | |
| Satterwhite | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | |
| Nour | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
| TOTALS | 18-43 | 17-24 | 60 | 29 | 11 | |
| Threes: Beyer 3-8, Jude Salgado 2-3, Dyson 1-1, Kahin 1-5, Feigenbaum 0-2, Siguenza 0-2 | ||||||
| INDY | FG | FT | TP | REB | AST | |
| OGBURN | 2-8 | 5-6 | 9 | 5 | 2 | |
| C.RATLIFF | 4-8 | 0-0 | 10 | 4 | 2 | |
| GRIMES | 1-4 | 0-2 | 2 | 5 | 1 | |
| J.RATLIFF | 1-4 | 1-2 | 3 | 3 | 0 | |
| KUNKLE | 3-10 | 4-6 | 12 | 2 | 1 | |
| Brennan | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| H.Ratliff | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
| Ward | 0-1 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| Enderes | 5-6 | 0-0 | 11 | 0 | 0 | |
| Diggs | 0-3 | 5-6 | 5 | 3 | 2 | |
| Lewis | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| TOTALS | 16-45 | 15-22 | 52 | 23 | 8 | |
| Threes: Kunkle 2-3, C.Ratliff 2-5, Enderes 1-1, H.Ratliff 0-1, Ogburn 0-2, Diggs 0-2 | ||||||