By Joe Davidson
jdavidson@sacbee.com
As terrific as they are as one-on-one basketball talents, the Sheldon Huskies are even more of a sight to behold when they make the extra pass.
In these Sac-Joaquin Section Division I playoffs, top-seeded Sheldon has put on a clinic of sharing the ball, executing and playing poised under even the smallest degree of pressure.
Sheldon was for the most part flawless in offensive execution in a D-I semifinal in taking leads of 11-0 and 17-2 to pound out an 86-72 victory over Bethel of Vallejo on Wednesday night at Sleep Train Arena.
The Jaguars cut it to eight with two NBA-range three pointers with 6:25 to go, but Sheldon responded with a 14-0 run and now target a large-school section record four-peat championship.
"When we share the ball, we're really hard to stop," Huskies coach Joey Rollings said.
Fresh off a triple-double against Kennedy, Huskies floor leader D'Erryl Williams scored 25 points on 12 of 13 shooting, had six assists and seven rebounds for Sheldon (24-5).
Darin Johnson scored 22 on 9 of 13 shooting with five assists in front of his future Washington Huskies coach Lorenzo Romar, in the building for a peek.
Antonio Lewis and Ryan Manning scored 15 and 14 points, respectively, for the Huskies, who made 37 of 59 shots (63 percent) and had 24 assists. It's the third consecutive playoff effort with 20 or more assists for Sheldon.
Edward Moore had 20 for Bethel and Gary Wilson 19.
"Sheldon is almost impossible to match up with because they have weapons at almost every position," Bethel coach Dwayne Jones said. "They are really good. They are the real-deal."
Sheldon plays the winner of Wednesday's late Pleasant Grove-Bella Vista winner on Saturday night at Sleep Train. The Huskies have been top ranked by The Bee all season. They are NorCal ranked second behind Salesian of Richmond by MaxPreps and are state-ranked fourth by Cal-Hi Sports.
"We want that ring," said Sheldon four-year veteran Dakarai Allen, who had nine first-half assists and eight points.
Bee photo by Jose Luis Villegas: Sheldon's D'Erryl Williams steals a ball from Bethel's Noah Wellington in the fourth quarter.
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