John Picazo dribbles down the court, passes like lightening to senior Kevin White who passes to senior Ryan Symes and back out to the perimeter to sophomore Brian Baskauskas; the shot is up and it is good for 3 points. And that’s just the first 30 seconds of Paly’s 60-40 victory over the Wilcox Chargers on Tuesday, putting the Vikings at 15-7 for the season.

Lead by seniors Ryan Symes with 22 points and Kevin White with 10, the Vikings dominated their Feb. 4 game over Wilcox. Paly kept a fast-paced offense to tire out Wilcox and gain a quick lead. After the first quarter, Paly lead 17-9. With strong defense and passes down to Symes in the post, Paly was up 31-11 at halftime.

Tensions grew thick when a double technical foul was called on White and Wilcox guard Darrell Birton. Paly coach Peter Diepenbrock was quick to defend his player and bickered with the opposing coach until the referees split them up. The tension only enlarged, as two more technical fouls were called later in the game, one against coach Diepenbrock in the 3rd quarter and one in the 4th quarter when a Wlicox player gave a hard elbow underneath the basket.

The Vikings dominated the second half with inside shots by Symes and some nice jumpers by Anderson and Karvelas. Coach Diepenbrock switched to a 2-3 zone defense in order to hold Wilcox’s center, Chris Fultcher.

Wilcox kept a man-to-man defense going and started to press as Paly’s lead grew, but the Charger’s attempt to come back was unsuccessful. Paly kept a 20-point lead throughout the game and kept the momentum with many steals, fast breaks, and a significant and-1 play by Viking junior Pep Garcia. The two sophomores on the team, Baskauskas and Greg Walder supported the Vikings in their victory with 9 points total and should be entertaining to see in the following two years. However Diepenbrock felt that his team still needs improvement to be successful in the playoffs. "Our defensive rebounding still seems to be our weakness and needs improvement," Diepenbrock said.

Diepenbrock plans to look to his captains Symes and Karvelas to motivate their teammates. "They were chosen as captains because the team felt they exemplified the positive attitude the other players wanted," Diepenbrock said.

This victory toward the end of the season gives the Vikings a strong momentum for the playoffs. "We plan to win the whole thing," said Diepenbrock. They’ll get their chance on Wednesday Feb. 12 against Homestead.