Outstanding shooting and relentless defense helped propel the Palo Alto boys varsity basketball team over the Homestead Mustangs, 59-34, Friday.
The Vikings began league play tonight and the team was ready and determined to win on quad night, where all four basketball teams played Homestead on the same night.
“We’ve got a lot of confidence now,” said head coach Peter Diepenbrock. “We faced a lot of good teams with different styles and strengths.”
The Vikings first league opponent was a talented and motivated Homestead team.
“It’s always exciting to play Paly,” said Homestead head coach Jason Townsend. “It’s a great environment.”
Homestead, now 8-8, relied on their height for success.
“We have good post strength so we try to get it [the ball] to our big men as much as possible,” Townsend said.
Paly recognized the Mustangs’ strength as well.
“They’ve got some good post players,” said junior guard Jonny Palmer. “It’ll tough to guard them.”
The Vikings, now 14-1, scored early and often, taking a 21-3 lead after the first quarter. During the final six minutes of the quarter, the Vikings went on a 17-0 run.
By halftime, the game was beginning to get out of hand with the Vikings leading, 34-13. Senior guard Jeremy Lin scored 12 points alone in the first, only one point shy of the Mustangs’ first quarter point tally. In the first half, the Vikings shot almost 70% from the field while pulling down 21 rebounds.
The second half showed that the Mustangs would not give up without a fight, but the Vikings were too much. Leading, 51-21, after three quarters, the Vikings went to their bench to give their younger players some playing time. The Vikings finished the night shooting 64% from the field, but shot only 2 of 9 from the free throw line. The Vikings’ smothering defense did not allow the taller Mustangs to find their rhythm, and the Vikings’ 10 steals led to many fast break opportunities.
The Vikings were led by Lin, who finished with 17 points, seven rebounds, seven assists, and three steals. Lin, under the watchful eyes of scouts, played with a high level of intensity that seemed to carry over to the rest of the team.
“It’s our first league game, so we really wanted to perform well,” Lin said. “We hadn’t really had a great flow so far, but tonight we had multiple easy lay-ups and the bench played great.”
Senior forward Kheaton Scott added 16 points shooting 8 of 8 from the field. Senior forwards Kevin Trimble and Cooper Miller had eight and nine rebounds respectively and senior guard Brad Lehman added seven points as well as four assists.
The Vikings were forced to play with only nine players because of starter Steven Brown’s injured ankle and the loss of two junior guards, Evan Warner and Dennis Pruzan. As a result, Paly called up sophomore Brook Seaman, who played six minutes in the fourth quarter.
The Vikings also relied on junior guard Adam Wandell and Palmer for valuable minutes off the bench. Wandell played 22 minutes and Palmer added 13 minutes. Sophomore guard Brian Karvelas played only eight minutes, but scored six points, showing energy and desire the entire time.
“Every time you get a chance to play, you want to play at your best,” Karvelas said.
This impressive win comes after winning the St. Francis tournament where Miller made 1st team all-tournament and Lin was named MVP. Scott took the "Mr. Hustle" award and tonight, he proved he deserved that title.
The Vikings, who are ranked 28th in the state by maxpreps.com, have suffered only loss this year. It came in the Mission Prep Christmas Classic when they lost to Price high school, ranked 30th in the same rankings and winner of the Division V state championship five of the past six years.
The Vikings next game is at Mountain View on Jan. 10. On Jan. 13, Paly returns home to play Milpitas at 7:45 p.m. in the big gym.
The JV boys basketball team improved their record to 15-2 after winning, 58-34. Eighteen points from sophomore Will Goodspeed and 15 points from Tyger Pederson led the way as the JV boys continue to roll.