It's always fun watching
Deer Valley (Antioch, Calif.) High School's boys basketball team play.
Even in defeat.
Darin Johnson, Sheldon
File photo by Ralph Thompson
On Saturday, defending Northern California Division I champion, host and short-handed
Sheldon (Sacramento, Calif.) got a career-high 42 points from
Darin Johnson in a gritty 97-92 victory over the talented Wolverines.
The game pitted
Northern California's No. 3 team (Sheldon) and No. 5 squads.
According to Joe Davidson of the Sacramento Bee, Johnson scored 19 of his 42 points in the third quarter on a wide variety of shots. The 6-foot-4 guard has signed to the University of Washington.
Antonio Lewis had 19 points and 11 rebounds, foul-plagued
D'Erryl Williams added 19 and
Ian Miller 11 for Sheldon (14-4), which played without the team's top recruit
Dakarai Allen (flu) and head coach Joey Rollings (ejected from Friday game).
The Huskies also survived the ultimate two-man barrage from 6-10 Kentucky-bound post
Marcus Lee (30 points, 11 dunks, 15 rebounds, seven blocks, four steals) and 6-1 point guard
Kendall Smith (34 points).
Marcus Lee, Deer Valley
File photo by Dennis Lee
The Wolverines, who dropped to 14-4, beat another Sac-Joaquin Section team 97-96 in double overtime to open the season, and have a 91-86 loss to Bishop O'Dowd-Oakland. They average 75 points per game.
Johnson told Davidson it was a big win not only because Sheldon was short-handed, but because he had a competition with his God brother Smith of Deer Valley.
Sheldon came into the season No. 16 in the MaxPreps Xcellent 25 national preseason rankings.
"It's always fun to go against great competition, especially from the Bay Area," Johnson said. "We had a lot of players step up without Dakarai. We're all playing well together."
