As they have so many times in the past, the boys basketball team allowed a weaker team to hang around, only to put them in their place with a second half surge. Westmoor was the victim of the Vikings’ cruel trick on Wednesday as Paly easily handled the Rams 63-38 in the first round of the Central Coast Section playoffs.
The Vikings are no stranger to the playoffs, but most of their players are. Not one player on the Vikings’ starting lineup had played in the playoffs for Paly, but co-captain Jonny Palmer, the only current Viking to play all four years at Paly, wasn’t worried about the team’s apparent lack of experience.
“Most of the guys played in the summer against high-caliber competition, so the playoffs won’t be that different,” Palmer said.
Though the Vikings are once again in the playoffs, the mystique and aura around past year’s teams is lacking. With seven losses this year, the Vikings lost more than twice as many games than in the past two years combined.
With most of the entire team graduating last year, no one expected the Vikings could live up to the success of the state champs, so for head coach Peter Diepenbrock, making the playoffs with a young and remodeled team is a major accomplishment.
For the first round match up in CCS, The Vikings (18-7), the fourth seed, drew Westmoor (13-14), the 13th seed. The Rams finished fourth in the Peninsula North League while the Vikings won the De Anza League crown for the fourth straight year.
Despite their lack of size, the Rams jumped out to an early 9-2 lead thanks to three 3-pointers. The Vikings, led by junior Mike Scott, rallied for an 8-0 run to take the lead, but with just seconds left in the first quarter, the Rams hurled a pass into the rafters that was caught by another Ram player who threw up a desperation buzzer beater that went in, giving the Rams the 11-10 lead.
The second quarter went back and forth for most of the eight minutes, but the Vikings began to pull away, going on an 8-0 run to end the half with the 25-18 lead. The Rams kept the score within reach in the third quarter, making the score 31-23 midway through the quarter. From that point on, the Vikings couldn’t miss and the Rams couldn’t make and the end result was a 22-1 run stretching until late in the fourth quarter.
With the bench players on the court for the Vikings, the Rams suddenly got hot, hitting 7 of their last 8 shots, but the Vikings bench did not cool down and by game’s end, the Vikings had won 63-38. To add insult to injury, the Rams stole the ball, giving them a wide open lay-up, but Palmer came out of nowhere with a monstrous block, exciting the few remaining fans.
“Coach always tells me that I should get back more on defense,” Palmer said.
All but three of the Vikings scored on Wednesday and seven players had at least five points with Scott leading the team with 12 points.
Wednesday night marked the final home game of the season, unless the Vikings can win CCS and the high seed in the NorCal playoffs, a far more unlikely possibility than in previous years.
With Wednesday’s win, the Vikings will face the fifth seeded St. Francis Lancers (12-14) in the quarterfinals. The game is on Saturday, Feb. 24 at Foothill College. The time has not yet been announced.