Prep boys’ basketball: Low-seeded Sheldon halts Inderkum streak, returns to D-I final
These guys are usually the top dog, the hunted. This time around, the Sheldon Huskies have a different seeding, an unfamiliar label but still have their trademark snarl and bite.
“We’re the underdogs now,” Sheldon senior guard Tyrice Daniels said, adding, “and we love it.”
Seeded a surprisingly low fifth in the Sac-Joaquin Section Division I playoff scramble, the gritty Huskies on Wednesday night withstood everything top-seeded and red-hot Inderkum had to offer to prevail 85-80 in overtime in front of a packed house in Natomas.
In halting Inderkum’s 24-game winning streak. The Tigers (26-2) won’t reach a section final for the first time since the school opened in 2004, but coach Fred Wilson’s talented crew will advance to the CIF Northern California Regional tournament as a likely high seed. Those games start in the middle of next week.
Sheldon, meanwhile, goes right back to work. The Huskies (22-9) are back in familiar territory, in the championship round at Golden 1 Center against a familiar foe in Modesto Christian. The longtime regional powerhouses face off Saturday night. The battle-tested Huskies are in their 10th section final under coach Joey Rollings since 2010 and they seek their seventh blue banner in that stretch.
Sheldon started this season preseason No. 1 by The Bee, but Inderkum took over that spot within weeks as the Huskies took on state powers in national events in Southern California, losing some of those games. These teams were supposed to play last month in a showcase event at Sheldon, but COVID-19 issues led to a late scratch for the Tigers, who beat Modesto Christian on the road to cap the regular season.
So here come the Huskies, undersized but as tenacious as ever. And one can bet the school’s large band will be at Golden 1, just as it was in a quarterfinal on Monday in Stockton against Lincoln, and just as it was at Inderkum.
“We love our band, our school, and playing for them,” Sheldon senior leader Rashaud Bradley said.
Said Rollings, “We have no size, smaller than every team we play, but we rebound, we get after it on defense, we don’t panic and we play together. We fight to the end. It’s a little bit of a surprise we’re here because we graduated so many players and the field is so tough. As underdogs, you work harder.”
The game was intense from the start, both teams superbly coached and active in moving the ball and defending it. Te’and Idalecio’s late 3-pointer for Inderkum tied it at 70-70 at the end of the fourth quarter to force overtime, where Sheldon pulled away with free throws and depth.
That the Huskies won it against this section’s highest-ranked team in the state with their two best players — Bradley and Donovan Morgan — fouling out is a testament to the program. The Huskies expect to win these games. They took it personally that they drew a 5-seed, curious that their strong nonleague schedule and winning the Delta League championship didn’t grant them a top 4 seed.
“We have a lot of heart,” Bradley said.
And a lot of depth. Unsung Sheldon senior guard Troy Crighton led all scorers with 23 points. He hit 3-pointers, drove in for baskets, made free throws, and showed he still had plenty left in the tank to take a length-of-the-court bullet pass from Josiah Johnson for a layup with 1:30 left in overtime. He was fouled and made the 3-point play for an 83-73 lead.
“He had a great game and is a great kid,” Rollings said of Crighton.
Bradley, Sheldon’s leading scorer and rebounder this season, had 13 points and 10 rebounds. Morgan, a 6-foot-2 guard/forward, had 11 points and seven rebounds. Johnson had 11 points, Marcellus Franklin eight and Jaden Woodard eight. Daniels had none points and seven assists, most of them nifty zip passes inside.
Derrick Claxton, Inderkum’s star guard, had 14 points but only one point in the fourth quarter. He fouled out. Isaiah Chandavong had 14 and Jermaine Haliburton 12 for Inderkum.
Inderkum beat Sheldon by 20 in summer action, which doesn’t really matter, only it did here. The Huskies remembered.
“We had something to prove,” Rollings said.
Such an odd thing for a program so used to holding off the rest of the pack.
This story was originally published February 24, 2022 at 3:26 AM.