DUBLIN, CA – After all the controversies and unknowns about if, where, and when two-time defending NorCal champion Sheldon would get a crack at another date in the state championship game, the top-seeded Huskies’ semifinal match up with No. 4 Dublin came down to a final, frantic play sequence that lasted 12.8 seconds. Featuring iron-clad defense and a missed three-pointer, it ended with a 59-58 Sheldon victory and a horde of students and fans flooding the floor in celebration.
“This whole weekend was like a rollercoaster ride,” Sheldon coach Joey Rollings said. “They’re a great team and we just got lucky in the end. We made the stops we had to and we made the baskets we had to.”
Marcus Bagley, the Arizona State-bound Huskies’ senior small forward, had 27 points, nine rebounds, and three blocks. He had the game-winning basket with 17.5 seconds left when he drove through the key and banked in a layup against two defenders.
After a timeout, Dublin inbounded on their side of the court. Devon Jackson’s kiss off the glass went wide. Malik Jackson scooped up the rebound and put it back up while still in mid-air, but Dontrell Hewlett swatted it away emphatically. The ball ended up in the hands of the Gaels, but a last ditch effort by Elijah Alonzo from the top of the key misfired and Sheldon had it’s ticket to the NorCal Regional final against Bishop O’Dowd on Thursday.
Dublin had three players reach double figures – Devon Jackson with 18, Malik Jackson with 11, and Jaden Saunders with 10. Xavion Brown chipped in 12 for Sheldon.
“We were one play short,” Dublin coach Tom Costello stated. “The guys executed everything perfectly. All season long…the questions were about which player is not on our team. It was never about those thirteen guys in the locker room…they deserve a whole lot of credit because from the very beginning no one thought we’d be here.”
The game was all the more remarkable because until 10 a.m. this morning, no one knew if it would even take place. Not long before Saturday’s scheduled game to be played in Sacramento, Sheldon was forced to withdraw from the tournament when the Elk Grove School District cancelled all classes and school-related activities for a week due to Coronavirus concerns.
“A lot of ducks had to be in a row for us to get here,” Rollings said. “But it worked out.”
“The biggest thing that happened to me was just to see the joy on their faces that they get to play today,” Costello added.
After petitions and protests, the CIF allowed Sheldon back in. As a result, while most remaining teams played their Regional Final on Tuesday, Dublin and Sheldon were vying in the semifinal while O’Dowd, the No. 3 seed, defeated No. 2 Archbishop Mitty 73-60 in their semifinal on Saturday. But Sheldon had to play on the road instead of hosting at Cosumnes River College as planned. That didn’t deter the fan base, however, and the gym was packed to full capacity.
“We’re overwhelmed with joy because this week has been an emotional rollercoaster,” Hewlett remarked, who scored all eight of his points in the second quarter and had six boards in addition to the huge block at the end. “(Dublin) played a great game.”
Dublin closed the first quarter on a 9-2 run to go ahead 17-14. In the second, the game saw five lead changes and two ties, but it was Sheldon finishing the period strong, an 8-3 push in the last 1:11 to make it 36-31 Huskies at the half. Dublin gained the advantage back in the third, and had its biggest lead, eight, with 4:05 to go up 54-46.
A Bagley dunk off a Josh Williams assist jump-started Sheldon into a 6-0 burst, though Dublin did not help itself by twice missing the front end of a one-and-one during this time. The Gaels split two pairs of foul shots, then Bagley’s putback with 54 seconds left made it 56-54 Dublin.
Seconds later Nick Costello found Saunders all alone in the front court on the inbounds. But just as fans were celebrating that layup, Brown hit a trey to close the gap to 58-57 with 41 seconds remaining. Williams then had a huge steal, leading to wild scramble and a jump ball in favor of the Huskies, setting up Bagley’s winning cut through the key.
“I’m speechless right now, I don’t know what to say,” Bagley told Darren Sabedra of the San Jose Mercury News. “I thank God. That’s all that’s on my mind right now.”
Dublin, which fell just shy of O’Dowd in the NCS Open Championship game, defeated Bellarmine 73-69 in the CIF Open quarterfinal. Sheldon earned a bye in the CIF Open after winning the Sac-Joaquin Section Division I title.
“We did everything we could this entire season from the jump,” Saunders commented. “I wish I could say we could go back to the drawing board but we can’t. I wish we would have played Saturday but we still played and we gave it our hardest.”
“When you have a team that’s after one collective goal…great things can happen,” Costello concluded.
