With starting shooting guard Mike Scott wallowing on the bench injured, Dom Powell took the Vikings on his shoulders and carried them to a 48-37 victory Wednesday. After struggling early, Powell dominated Los Gatos late by scoring 18 of his 20 points in the second half. Powell eventually registered a double-double by adding 15 rebounds.

However, the senior center couldn’t do it all by himself. Head coach Peter Diepenbrock helped his star player by directing the entire game with an aggressive full-court press defense. Not surprisingly, Paly (15-8-0, 6-4-0) finished with 11 steals and a multitude of forced turnovers. On the few occasions Los Gatos managed get off shots, they were always challenged, leading to only 12 of 36 from the floor for the Wildcats.

The first quarter did not go well as both teams seemed happy just throwing up low-percentage jump shots. The Vikings shot a horrendous percentage, but they miraculously pulled off an 8-6 first quarter lead. Senior Jordan Jefferson scored all four of his points in the first quarter, but later added six rebounds and five assists. Paly’s Powell missed his four shots, and his teammates hardly did better as the Vikings missed 10 of their 14 shots. Luckily, the Wildcats couldn’t shoot either as they only made two of their first 11. However, the first quarter showed that the Vikings would dominate the boards and that second-chance points would be plentiful as Powell pulled down six offensive rebounds.

The second quarter followed many of the guidelines set by the first as Paly continued to pull down rebounds, but could not execute on the offensive end. Powell had 10 rebounds by the end of the first half, but was relegated to the bench late after picking up three fouls. Los Gatos kept it close by knocking down 4 of their 8 shots.

After 16 minutes of mostly unproductive offensive series, Paly exploded in the third quarter. Powell paced the Vikings with his nine points on 4-for-5 shooting as Paly pulled out to a 32-25 lead. Sophomore power forward Kevin Brown added four points in the quarter and eventually finished with nine to go along with six rebounds and four blocked shots.

By the time the third quarter had ended, the fourth seemed like just a formality. Powell added nine more points, bringing his total to 20. Junior point guard Nick Robinson drained two buckets and finished with six points on the night.

It was Paly’s first victory in three games. After having their 44-game home winning streak snapped by division leader Cupertino (20-5-0, 8-2-0), 29-47, on Jan. 30, the Vikings barely lost to Milpitas (14-9-0, 4-5-0), 42-45 last Thursday. The Vikings currently sit in a tie for second with Gunn (15-8-0, 6-3-0) in the De Anza League.

Paly’s next game is away on Feb. 13 against divisional rival Fremont. Fremont currently sits in last place with a 1-9-0 record, but are looking to make it to the playoffs difficult for Paly. When the Vikings faced the Firebirds on Jan. 23, Paly emerged with a 71-47 victory. The Firebirds carry an eight-game losing streak into the game.