SANTA CLARA — Close games are nothing new for Sheldon, but there’s some novelty to winning one where their previous season ended.
A year after their hopes were dashed by squandering a late lead in the CIF Open Division Northern Regional Championship, this time it was the Huskies who were on the happy side of the comeback, beating Bishop O’Dowd 61-60 before a spirited crowd at the Leavey Center.
“We’ve been going through it all year,” said Justin Nguyen, who scored 10 points despite getting battered repeatedly, including a scary collision that caused him to miss nearly half of the third quarter.
Facing a late four-point deficit, No. 4 seed Sheldon tied the game at 57 on a Nguyen basket with 1:17 left, took the lead on a Dale Currie drive to the hoop, and following an O’Dowd turnover on an inbound, ran the shot clock down for Dom Johnson to find big man Ronald Agebsar for a huge alley-oop that resulted in a thunderous dunk.
“The plan on that play was to just get to the basket,” Sheldon Coach Joey Rollings said. “Ronald’s man came to help, and he’s a great leaper, so we know that if we can get it up to him, he’s going to throw it home.”
Dom Johnson led Sheldon (29-5) with 16 points and a game-high nine rebounds for a Huskies team that out-rebounded the Dragons 38-32. Currie and Kaito Williams were also in double-figure scoring with 13 and 11 points, respectively.
It was nip and tuck throughout, with neither team leading by more than five at any point. Every time there was a need for a big basket, though, the fourth-seeded Huskies seemed to get it, like Currie’s huge three late in the first half cut the lead to 22-21.
In all, there were 12 lead changes, and it would have been hard for second-seeded Bishop O’Dowd (27-6) to leave with many regrets if not for some critical turnovers. In addition to stepping over the line on the inbound pass after Currie gave Sheldon the lead, plays like an offensive foul and three-second call midway through the fourth quarter added up to lead to the Dragons’ demise.
“The turnover taking the ball out of bounds, the turnover in the key under the basket, not rebounding down the stretch and bad shot selection all were major factors,” said O'Dowd Coach Lou Richie.
Even with the sour conclusion to the season, it would be hard to tarnish the legacy of Washington-bound Elijah Hardy, who scored a game-high 24 with an 11-for-13 performance at the line, and Utah commit Naseem Gaskin, who added 13.
“The kids played hard,” said Richie. “Naseem and Elijah had great careers. 1,500 points for Naseem, 1,200 for Elijah. They made their mark on Northern California high school basketball.”
The team with a chance to cement its legacy, though, is Sheldon, and that will be next Saturday at 8:00 p.m. at the Golden 1 Center against state No. 1 Sierra Canyon-Chatsworth.
Sierra Canyon (26-4) won the Southern Regional Open title in another close game after pulling out a 58-55 come from behind victory. The Trailblazers boast two juniors named after their NBA fathers, guard Scottie Pippin Jr, and forward Kenyon "KJ" Martin Jr.
