The Palo Alto High School boys’ basketball team (8-6, 5-1) moved into first place in the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League with a 66-51 win against Gunn High School (12-5, 4-2) at home on Friday.
Senior guards Davante Adams and Bill Gray led Paly’s offense. Adams was Paly’s top scorer with 14 points while Gray was the spark that ignited a second quarter surge that put the Vikings ahead of Gunn for good. Gray and sophomore E.J. Floreal had 12 points. Junior guard Israel Hakim chipped in 11 points and senior forward Charlie Jones added 10 to round out the balanced scoring attack.
Gunn and Paly came into the rivalry game tied for the league lead after they both dropped games to Cupertino High School.
The first quarter started slowly and Paly nursed a slim 14-11 lead at its end
“We didn’t start off as we wanted to,” junior guard Alec Wong said. “But when second quarter came we really pressured them [Gunn] to force them out of their offense.”
At the start of the second quarter the Titans crept back to tie the score at 20. Only when Palo Alto head coach Adam Sax put Gray in the game did the Vikings catch fire. Gray was the X-factor that Paly was missing; he immediately made his presence felt over the court, intercepting passes and slashing to the basket to score. By the end of the first half, the Vikings had widened their lead, 29-20.
In the third quarter, strong teamwork was key for Paly, highlighted by a sequence in which Floreal stole the ball and passed to Jones on the a fast break. Jones missed but Adams swooped in to grab the rebound and scored with a nice floater. Later, in a play that capped Paly’s strong defensive effort in the second half, junior center Tory Prati blocked Gunn’s final shot at the end of the quarter. The Vikings were in control heading into the final quarter, 50-32.
The Titans tried their best to stage a comeback, looking for 3-pointers to close the gap, but it was too little too late. In a highlight reel worthy play that capped Paly’s dominant second half, Jones jumped in front of a Gunn pass and set up an alley-oop for Adams. Adams, who played wide receiver for Paly’s state championship football team, gave the Titans a taste of his athleticism as he skied high and brought the crowd to its feet with a rim-rattling two handed slam. With the Paly side of the gym going wild, Gunn could never get back in the game and the Vikings posted a 66-51 victory, capping a sweep by Palo Alto teams on their first quad night of the season.
Gunn was anchored by senior Jack Hannan who had 16 points on the night. Paly played strong defense on Gunn’s 6-foot 6 senior Matt Redfield holding him to only nine points.
For Sax, turning point of the game was the second quarter.
“During the second quarter, when it was tied up with four minutes to go, the team grooved; they were at a different energy level,” Sax said. “We got a few steals. We got everyone pumped up, got everybody going and we got the turning point right before the half.”
Sax believes that a team effort was the key to the win.
“There were a couple of key players in the game,” Sax said. “E.J. Floreal, Charlie [Jones] and Bill [Gray] brought a lot of energy to the game. E.J. [Floreal] with the boards, Charlie and Bill with the defense. Junior guard Alec Wong brought the ball up — he had a lot of energy bringing the ball up.”
Assistant coach Erik Olah believes that Gunn was a much stronger team this year.
“They were better this year,” Olah said. “They got another year under their belt. They are able to block shots and shoot. They’ve been playing together for the last couple of years so they have better teamwork.”
With more than a month remaining in the regular season, the Vikings hold a half game lead in the SCVAL standings as they look to repeat as league champions.
The Vikings will play Homestead at 7:45 p.m. on Jan. 28 at home.