From Elk Grove Citizen

By Jon Gudel

There are no breaks in the Delta River League. No time for rest.

No easy games to circle on the schedule.

The Sheldon High School boys basketball team had seemingly seen just about everything in the preseason, from playing in national tournaments to neutral-site games against teams from the Bay Area.

Constructing the toughest schedule of any Sac-Joaquin Section team was expected to prepare them for the rigors of arguably the top basketball league in Northern California.

It certainly did.

Sheldon swept both meetings against Jesuit and will get a chance to do the same with Pleasant Grove on Friday in the season finale. If Sheldon wins, they will clinch the DRL title outright.

Lose and they will share the title with Jesuit, assuming they win out.

Jesuit stayed in the race and remained only one-game behind Sheldon after a 57-54 win at Pleasant Grove last Friday. Pleasant Grove now trails Sheldon by two games and Jesuit by one.

Pleasant Grove lost both meetings to Jesuit.

Even though Sheldon swept Jesuit, they will be considered co-champions of the DRL if tied at the end of the season. 

Sheldon’s only hiccup of the league schedule came in El Dorado Hills, where the Huskies scored a season-low 35 points in a four-point road loss at Oak Ridge.

Losing just once in the DRL is nothing to be ashamed about, certainly not with three capable Division I contenders and possibly a fourth if considering Oak Ridge.

Three DRL teams were seeded in the top five of the Sac-Joaquin Section Division I power ratings, a formula used to determine the 16-team field for the postseason.

Jesuit and Sheldon were seeded first and second, respectively, in the first set of power ratings. That changed one week later.

Sheldon’s Kyi Thomas tipped in a missed Armani Hampton layup as time expired in a 71-70 win over Jesuit to complete the two-game season sweep. In doing so, Sheldon grabbed the No. 1 overall seed in Division I.

Jesuit surprisingly dropped to fifth.

Between them, another DRL team, Pleasant Grove, was seeded third.

Oak Ridge was 11th.

It’s quite possible that three DRL teams could advance to the Northern California Regional, where the four Section semifinalists are guaranteed spots.

Sheldon, the two-time defending Division I Section champions, beat Jesuit 84-69 in the Section championship game last season.

Sheldon reached the NorCal semifinals before losing to De La Salle, 47-45, at St. Mary’s College in Moraga. Jesuit failed to advance after a first-round loss to Oakland.

After a blowout win over Lincoln of Stockton in a Division I Section out-bracket game, Pleasant Grove lost to Franklin, 72-67, in the first round.

Oak Ridge, which did not lose until league play last year, lost to McNair in the first round.

As always, leagues are generally graded on how well their respective teams do in the postseason. It might not matter this season.

The DRL is unquestionably the best league the Section has to offer. Considering at least two and most likely three teams could advance to Power Balance Pavilion for the Division I semifinals, pending bracket seeds, the regular season is merely a formality of what to expect in the postseason.

All DRL boys teams have scheduled byes tonight, and the regular season ends Friday.