Paly beat Wilcox 60-42 on Wednesday night to maintain their undefeated league record (5-0) and solidify their number one position. Despite missing a few players due to injuries, the Vikings still were able to win heftily.
“Since we are currently one of the better teams our league, that means we have a target on our back, so that’s why we always got to play with an unmatched level of intensity,” junior Kacey Washington said. “We have to bring it every night because in basketball, anything can happen in those 36 minutes.”
From the tip off, Paly set the tone, especially on the defensive side. Paly remained dominant the entire game, maintaining a more than 10 point lead the whole game past the first quarter. Senior Jorell Clark led the team offensively with 28 points, along with senior Gavin Haase with 11 points, and senior Jai Wadhwani adding 8 points. The team capitalized on physical advantages whilst playing against the smaller squad.
“This game in particular, we were a little bit more athletic and bigger than them all around, so our players really stepped up using that big size advantage,” Washington said.
While they were able to dominate the score offensively, Paly’s defense was especially strong. “I would say Wilcox is a pretty small team so we did a good job of utilizing our size to get rebounds and putbacks,” Junior Kevin Obrien said. “Also we played really well stopping their two best players number 2 and number 5, overall a very good defensive game.”
Despite the win, the Vikings didn’t feel like they put on their best performance, as there were some areas the team felt they could improve on.
“I think we didn’t have our best game last night, but despite that we found a way to win,” Senior Gavin Haase said. “We played solid defense and were good enough on offense to get the win.”
Going forward, the team hopes to focus on consistency and keeping their momentum in order to continue their undefeated streak.
“Every game we have to play to our standards, our principles, and as long as we dot that, we can win any game,” Washington said.
