The Paly boys’ basketball team defeated Wilcox High School 71-66 on Friday night. The game began with Wilcox winning the tip off but Paly was quick to win the ball back. Kevin Mullin (‘15) started off the game strong with two three pointers in a row leading the Vikings to take lead.

Alex Dees (‘15) helped the team out with another shot and Mikey Grandy (‘16) came up with a rebound and scored shortly after, continuing the Vikes lead of 15-5. The first quarter ended with a shot by Mullin and a score of 17-8.

Wilcox came back strong in the second quarter and earned 3 points in the first minute. But Paly continued their lead with two shots from Dees and a three pointer from Jonny Rojahn (‘15).

“Having Johnny back on the court tonight really reenergized us,” Mullin said. “It really made a difference in our dynamic as a team.”

Oliver Svirsky (‘16) won back the ball, after Wilcox attempted a shot, and scored a three pointer making the score 27-11. Miles Tention (‘17) and Rojahn hit three pointers one after another leading the Vikes 33-16.

After a shot from Wilcox, Mullin rebounded and made a three pointer from the top of the key. Tention then hit his second three pointer of the night, followed by a layup from Mullin. The Vikes ended the first half leading 40-20.

“We rebounded the ball a lot better tonight than we did in the previous games,” Dees said.

The Vikings came into the second half strong leading the game 40-20. Wilcox scored first, but Paly quickly retaliated with Dees scoring two free throws.

Wilcox proceeded to score two layups in a row, but their momentum was quickly stopped by a basket from the top of the key by Mullin.

Mullin then scored a three for the Vikings with 4:01 left to play in the third quarter.

Play then scored again with a concise passing sequence that ended with Mullin scoring another layup which made the score 49-26 Paly.

A Wilcox player was then awarded two free throws and scored one putting them up one more point. Yet, Paly continued to dominate due to Tention going off and scoring a three and another basket from the top of the key.

“It was nice to bounce back after two tough losses,” Mullin said. “We played relly well and hit a lot of three’s.”

Wilcox scored a three, but the points were quickly one back with a layup by NUMBER 1, Wilcox then scored another three, and again was shut down by a layup by Hull.

Wilcox then ended the third quarter with a buzzer layup which made the score 55-35.

The fourth quarter started off slow with a layup by Wilcox and then no action for another few minutes. The Vikings momentum really picked up with a layup by Jack Simison (‘17).

This forced Wilcox to call a timeout with 6:04 left in the fourth quarter.

The Falcons came back in strong and scored two layups and a free throw to start off the second half of the quarter. Which made the score 60-44 after a layup and free throw by Dees.

Hull then drove to the basket and scored for the Vikings to match a Wilcox players basket from the top of the key. The Vikings continued to match the Falcons with a three by Tention after a three by Wilcox.

Wilcox scored a three, but then made the mistake of fouling Mullin which awarded the Vikings two more points off of free throws.

The rest of the quarter was dominated by the Falcons as they proceeded to score four more points then Paly’s one layup by Simison. Yet, the shift in power did not matter as the Vikings came out on top and won with a final score of 71-56.

The boys team will go on to play Milpitas next Tuesday at 7:00.