Palo Alto’s 11-game winning streak against Gunn came to an end on Friday night as the Titans destroyed Paly’s boys basketball team, 42-18, at Gunn High School.
The Titans, who clinched the league title earlier in the week, looked like De Anza league champions while dismantling their cross-town rivals at home with surprising authority. This victory gave the Titans their fourth win in the past 11 years against Paly and their first since 2003.
“That was embarrassing,” junior guard Brendon Rider said. “I hope we never play like that again.”
The game was a marked contrast to when the two teams met two weeks ago, where a buzzer beater clinched the win for Paly, 45-44.
Gunn’s rebounding ability was the key to the game as the Titans scored most of their points on offensive rebounds. The Titans limited Paly’s second-chance opportunities with solid defensive rebounds.
“They crashed the boards hard, a lot harder [than last game],” Palo Alto head coach Andrew Slayton said. “They didn’t let us get a lot of shots.”
The first quarter started well for the Titans as they grabbed the momentum early on with some key fast-break layups. Despite this, Gunn only led 9-7 at the end of the quarter.
Gunn’s defense was stifling in the second quarter, holding the Vikings to three points. The Titans keyed-in on junior guard Joseph Lin, who hit the game winning shot last time around against Gunn, thus making Paly’s offense non-existent. The Vikings went into halftime trailing 20-10.
The floodgates burst open in the third as the Titans built up a 17 point lead. Gunn’s height played a big role as they crashed the glass, scoring most of their points down low.
“We have a significant height advantage,” Gunn junior Simon Hauser said. “Stephen Castro, who rebounded great, flies under the radar compared to [senior center] Gus [Brennan].”
Brennan led the Titan attack by blocking shots, rebounding, and scoring down low. He was the leading scorer for Gunn with 12 points.
The Viking’s offensive woes continued in the fourth quarter as Paly only scored four points and conceded 11.
“We [Paly] had no energy in the second half,” Rider said. “They [Gunn] wanted it more than we did and it showed.”
Gunn’s victory was decisive as the Titans played much better than they had at the two teams’ previous meeting.
“It was at our [Gunn] gym so we played better ,” Hauser said. “As a team we were also more confident and we knew Paly’s personnel tendencies this time around.”
The victory is a big boost for Gunn heading into CCS playoffs, while the Vikings have two more games left to try and turn around their fortunes before playoffs.
“We [Paly] only have one day [of practice until the next game] so there’s not much we can change,” Slayton said. “We just have to tighten up what we’ve got.”
Paly’s next game is on Feb. 17 at Wilcox at 7:45 p.m. The Vikings’ final home game is on Friday, Feb. 20, against Los Gatos at 7:45 p.m.