Butterfield's 34 not enough against Sheldon

LOOMIS — After dropping two straight hard-fought Sierra Foothill League battles, Del Oro High appeared poised to right the ship against one of the region's top teams.Despite a season-best 34-point performance from Spencer Butterfield, the Golden Eagles came up short in the nightcap of the 7th Annual Common Good Hoops Classic Saturday, falling to Sheldon 74-65.Del Oro trailed 17-8 midway through the opening stanza, but Butterfield helped ignite an 11-1 run late in the quarter. The Eagles (10-6) took their first lead, 24-23, early in the second quarter, extending their advantage to 30-23 on a rare dunk by sharpshooter Aaron Hendricks.Del Oro led 46-35 early in the third quarter before the Huskies assembled a rally of their own, quickly cutting the deficit to 51-50 a few minutes later.With the Eagles clinging to a 60-59 lead, big man Jon Root fouled out with 5:10 left in the game. Del Oro scrambled to cover the Huskies inside, but to little avail."It frustrated us a little bit when he fouled out," Butterfield said. "It took away some of our offense. We were working the ball up really well. We were just a little nervous, but we'll be prepared next time we get in a close game like that."Sheldon (16-3) tied the score at 60 with 4:27 left and retook the lead for good seconds later."It seems like we just keep doing the same things wrong over and over, but I think we know what to fix now and we're just going to have to work even harder in practice and I think we'll get it," Butterfield said.Hendricks scored 19 for the Eagles, who missed four layups in a futile final minute.Darius Nelson scored 22 to lead the Huskies, while Ramon Eaton and Derryl Williams each finished with 18 points.Del Oro travels to Grass Valley Tuesday night for an SFL clash with Nevada Union.