After winning leagues last year but falling in the the Central Coast Section, the Palo Alto High School boys’ basketball team looks forward to a strong season with a new coach and a wealth of returning talent.
Head coach Adam Sax, previously from Piedmont High School, will lead the Vikings in their quest for a Santa Clara Valley Athletic League title. Sax replaced last year’s head coach Bob Roehl and looks forward to building a positive relationship with the team.
“He’s a great guy,” junior forward Tory Prati said. “He brings a lot of great energy and ideas to the team and everyone gets along with him. He has a lot of experience coaching basketball, so I think he’ll be a good fit. From playing with him and the rest of the guys over the summer, we had good chemistry and thought that this season would be good.”
Among the players that graduated last year are guard Joseph Lin and center Kevin Brown.
Returning players include senior guard Bill Gray, senior fowards Charlie Jones, Davante Adams, Max Schmarzo and T.J. Braff, junior forward Tory Prati, junior guard Alec Wong and sophomore forward E.J. Floreal.
Last season, Paly fell in the CCS quarterfinals to Archbishop Mitty with a score of 62-39, ending its season at 18-7. Despite the loss, the team remains optimistic about the upcoming season.
“We want to try and win a league title and then from there look to go far in CCS,” Prati said. “We have a lot of talent and should be a great team, but we still have to take it one step at a time and build as the season goes on.”
Many players are also on the football team and have not been able to attend practices because the football season is still going, making it difficult to work on teamwork.
“With four football players on the team, and an injured player, we’re going to have a late start but hopefully an easy transition into the season,” Sax said.
Although there are many good players on the team, Sax said teamwork is more important.
“I want them [the team] to get a better skill set and learn how to play as a team,” Sax said.
Sax is not the only one thinking about how to improve.
“We are doing a lot of conditioning,” Wong said. “We run a lot and jump rope to work on agility. This conditioning will allow us to play hard all game long and always give 100% effort,” said Wong.
The first home game is at 5 p.m. on Dec. 12 against Milpitas in Paly’s big gym.