Joey Rollings exhaled for two reasons Friday night just outside a joyous locker room.

The coach of top-ranked Sheldon was marveling at his team's resolve and poise in the face of a pressure-cooker game against a foe eager to tag the Huskies with a defeat for a change. And Rollings was nodding in continued disbelief at the outrageous hops of ceiling-grazing forward Kyi Thomas, whose soaring across-the-lane tip-in stunned the No. 2 Jesuit Marauders at the buzzer, giving Sheldon a 71-70 win in a typically frantic Delta River League affair.

"Great win, and we kept our composure," Rollings said, half out of breath. "Kyi, I've seen him do that before. I wish I had half of his hops."

That would make Rollings the best-leaping coach in the region because the 6-foot-3 Thomas has an amazing 44-inch vertical leap. Imagine the glee of the Sacramento State football coaches when they got Thomas' national letter of intent to catch passes as a wide receiver. Thomas played football just this past fall and fell in love with the sport.

Thomas also happens to enjoy his hops in hoops, too. His last-play heroics came after Bryce Pressley hit a corner three-pointer with 10.2 seconds left as both teams exchanged blows from the start. Sheldon (18-4, 6-1) had no timeouts left and hustled downcourt.

Thomas finished it after an Armani Hampton runner hit the rim as the host Huskies recorded their sixth consecutive win over Jesuit (19-5, 5-2).

Later, there wasn't a player or coach from either side who doesn't expect another meeting next month, in the Sac-Joaquin Section Division I finals.

Kings guard Tyreke Evans stopped by to watch this one, but in an effort to beat the crowd and traffic, he left before the real fun started – during the timeout that set up Pressley's three. Evans met Pressley, the son of ex-Kings guard Harold Pressley, during a summer basketball camp. He even gave Pressley a pair of his sneakers. Evans could be seen nodding in approval at the efforts of both teams as they played the part of the area's top schools.

Thomas had 17 points and six rebounds to lead Sheldon, and D'Erryl Williams had 13, Ryan Manning 12 and Dakarai Allen 10. Nate Iese had six points and six rebounds.

Pressley led Jesuit with 22, Akachi Okugo had 17, Parker Uu 14 and Brian Glodowski 8.

An exasperated Jesuit coach Greg Harcos was soothed by his always-giddy young daughters, who wanted a hug and peck on the cheek with Pops regardless of the outcome. Jesuit departed with clenched fists but not long faces.

"We know we'll play them again in the playoffs, hopefully," Pressley said. "We played our best, and they did, too. We have to keep our heads up. Kyi can really get up."

Thomas said he had to time his tip just right to avoid climbing the back of a Jesuit player. What's more, every win signifies another step toward the team's goal of competing for a Northern California title. Tonight, NorCal powerhouse Salesian of Richmond comes to Jesuit for a nonleague game.

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Joe Davidson and co-host Mike Finnerty will talk prep basketball and football today on the SureWest Sports Radio Show from 9 to 10 a.m. on ESPN 1320. The show will be linked later to ESPN1320.net.

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