Both Paly and Milpitas entered the match expecting a close game, but the varsity boys basketball Vikings took control right from the tip-off and never looked back.

In Paly’s first major test in league play, the Vikings, now 16-1, crushed the Milpitas Trojans, now 13-4.

The Trojans, who recently defeated Fremont 72-36, are recognized for their physical strength and height.

“They’ve got a lot of size,” said Paly head coach Peter Diepenbrock. “We’ve got to rebound well and play good interior defense.”

According to the Milpitas head coach, senior guard Erik Rush and senior forward Adam Close are team leaders. Rush averages 21.0 points per game while Close averages 12.5 points per game and almost 10 rebounds per game. Faced with these numbers, the Vikings knew they had a tough match-up ahead of them.

“We can’t expect to stop him [Rush],” said Diepenbrock. “We have to try and keep him under control.”

The Vikings stellar team defense did more than that, holding Rush, who shot 0 of 11, to one point – a point that came from the foul line in the fourth quarter.

“Our main focus on defense was shutting down Eric Rush,” said senior forward Kheaton Scott. “As it turned out, we were able to do that.”

The Viking offense was quiet in the first half, scoring only 19 points and shooting only 40 percent. With the score standing at 19-8 at halftime, the Vikings came out in the third quarter firing. Shooting 9 of 11, the Vikings outscored the Trojans, 19-3, in the third quarter. With the bench playing most of the fourth quarter, the Vikings finished the game up, 45-19.

With senior forward Steven Brown still nursing an ankle injury, the Vikings played with only nine players.

Senior guard Jeremy Lin had 13 points, nine assists, and three steals, and Scott added 14 points and six rebounds. Seniors Kevin Trimble and Brad Lehman each added five points and Miller added six points while guarding Rush for most of the game.

The Viking defense flustered the Trojans throughout the night. The Trojans shot a dismal 7 of 46 and didn’t reach double-digits until 1:30 left in the third quarter. Milpitas averaged over 61 points per game before tonight’s match, but the Viking defense countered the Trojans’ strategy causing their normally high-powered offense to suffer.

The Paly fans, sporting their “6th man” t-shirts cheered Paly and taunted Milpitas whenever possible.

Those in attendance saw the Vikings, calm and poised, almost toying with the Trojans. The Trojans missed easy shots and made bad passes while the Vikings resembled last year’s team, who also started 16-1. Last year’s team eventually made its way to the Northern California Division II finals.

The Vikings, who have outscored their opponents by an average of 16 points a game, are beginning to distance themselves from the rest of the league.

Ranked #1 in both the De Anza league and the Central Coast Section by maxpreps.com, the Vikings will have one more major test in league this year when they face Gunn. Ranked at #14 in CCS and #2 in the De Anza league, The Gunn Titans, 3-0 in league and 12-5 overall, appear to the only roadblock in the Vikings’ path to a repeat as league champs.

The Vikings play Los Gatos on Wednesday and then return home to play their rival who, Gunn, who defeated Milpitas last week and has won eight of their last nine games. The Titans are looking forward to facing their intra-city rival and will play Paly at 7:45 p.m. on Jan. 20 in the big gym.

The JV boys baketball team improved to 16-2 after defeating Milpitas 43-28. Jordan Jefferson and Tyger Pederson led the team with 12 and 7 points respectively.