Tim Derksen has been to a few semifinals in his prep career at Amphitheate High. And he's going to another one.

Derksen and Amphi earned their fourth straight trip to at least the semifinal round by dropping Sierra Linda, 74-59, on Wednesday afternoon  in a Division II boys quarterfinal game at ASU's Wells Fargo Arena.

Derksen and his Amphi teammates head to the 2012 semis on Thursday at Grand Canyon University Arena where they will face Raymond Kellis, a 52-51 overtime winner over Paradise Valley, at 4:15 p.m. Amphi will take a 29-3 record and an 18-game winning streak to that game. Amphi was last year's 4A-II state champion. Sierra Linda, completing its first season with a senior class, finished the year 21-8.

Derksen, a 6-foot-3 senior guard  headed to the University of San Francisco, had a perfect  first half shooting in scoring 17 points. He made all six of his field-goal attempts and was 4-for-4 from the free-throw line. One of his baskets was a three and the others were on putbacks and inbounds plays. He scored just two points in the second half, but the rest of his stat  line completed an exemplary effort -- 11 rebounds, 10 assists, five blocks and three steals.

Derksen helped start Amphi on its way with his big first half, but the Panthers had to withstand a spirited push in the second half by Sierra Linda. Amphi led at halftime, 35-17, thanks to good defense and great execution in transition. Amphi made 14 of 22 field goals in the first half (64 percent); Sierra Linda was 6-of-26 (23 percent).

"We knew they were a good team," Amphi coach Ben Hurley said. "They beat Fairfax in the sectionals and gave Arcadia a battle. They didn't go away. They gave us their best punch there at the end."

Sierra Linda's top scorers -- juniors Damien Mendoza and Edgar Sarmiento -- were pretty quiet in the first half. Sarmiento had eight points and Mendoza three. They finished strong, however, scoring 21 and 14 points for the game, respectively. The  Bulldogs kept  the pressure on in the second half with better shooting (including five 3s), but were unable to cut the deficit to less than 10.

"We had some foul trouble and shuffled guys in that did a great job picking us up," Hurley said. "We did well in transition. Once we got it in and got it over the top,  we had a lot of two-on-one breaks we scored on."

Amphi shot 65 percent from the field through three quarters. All nine of its baskets in the final period came on layups, which helped dull Sierra Linda's comeback.

Amphit starters Ryan Farhat and Charles Benson and reserve Donald Selig joined Derksen in double figures in scoring. Farhat scored 14 points, Selig 13 and Benson 12. All of Benson's points came in the second half and nine of Selig's 13 came after intermission. Tony Lillard had six assists and Farhat added five.