Boys’ basketball faced Los Gatos High School last Friday, Feb 19 merely falling 53-50 to the Cats.

The Viks are now 7-5 in league standings, and 16-8 overall.

The Vikings started out of the gate leading the game 4-0. Both Jack Simison (‘17) and Justin Hull (‘16) were fouled, but each bounced back to score their free throws.

By the end of the first quarter, Los Gatos was leading 16-15. As the second quarter began, Ethan Stern (‘17) was fouled while trying for a layup, but recovered with ease after making both his free throws. Spencer Rojan (‘18) then followed that up by making two three pointers in a row, the score now 26-18 Paly.

To end the first half for the Vikings, Hull and Max Dorward (‘18), both made their free throws after being fouled to lead Paly 29-26.

The third quarter kicked off as Miles Tention (‘17) fouled, to give Gatos the ball. However, Hull recovered the ball and swiftly went on to make a jump shot. The rest of the quarter was back and forth as the Cats seemingly battled Tention after back to back threes. With three minutes left in the third quarter the score remained close, 38-34 Paly. After back to back layups from each team, the quarter ended in a tie, 40 each.

To kick off the fourth and final quarter, Los Gatos was fouled and followed up that foul by hitting a three. Tention once again counteracted the Cats by making his own three pointer. With 4:30 left in the game, Gatos took the lead 49-43.

With a layup by Hull and a three pointer by Tention, Paly was back in the game. By the last 30 seconds, Gatos was winning by only one point, the score 51-50. Hull was fouled and got up to shoot, but barely missed both his shots, while Gatos made both of theirs after being fouled minutes after Hull.

In a final attempt to catch the lead with nine seconds to go, the score 50-52, both Dorward and Tention attempted three pointers, but missed.

The finals score 53-50 Los Gatos.

“We should have played more aggressively and with a lot more passion,” Hull said.

For the future, the Vikings are looking to play with more cohersion as a team.

“ We have to play with consistency. We have to make sure we’re on the same page and we’ve got to make sure everything’s running smoothly, because our offense is pretty hard to stop if we run it well,” Doward said.