Tonight, the boys’ basketball team defeated Saratoga by a landslide in it’s fourth league game of the season.

Saratoga came out with a lead, scoring a three pointer early in the first quarter. The Vikings battled back,  after Kevin Mullin (‘15) sunk his first three pointer of the night and tied the game 7-7.  Noah Phillips (‘14) scored a deep jump shot in a counter attack, earning the lead for the Vikings midway through the quarter. Phillips maintained possession of the ball and was able to put two points on the board for the Vikings. The Viking defense was strong as Saratoga’s offensive momentum was quickly shut down by .  Nearing the end of the quarter, Saratoga fouled Phillips who made both free throws. Jonathan Rojahn (‘15) scored an additional three points, ending the first quarter 21-10.

The Vikings started the second quarter strong when Phillips drove towards the net, putting up two more points. However, Saratoga fought back, making a lay up in a counter attack. Keesean Johnson (‘14) scored next for Paly, earning his first points of the game. After sending Saratoga to the free throw line, Johnson drove into the paint earning two more points. Mullin scored additional points, closing off the half with the Vikings in the lead 32-17.

The Vikings’ momentum was carried into the third quarter as Matt Fogarty (‘14) scored another two points. Saratoga then fouled Mullin, who made both baskets on the line. The aggressive defense limited Saratoga to only four points during the quarter, which could not match the points put up by Johnson or Mullin that cushioned the lead for the Vikings.

Heading into the fourth quarter up 46-23, the Vikings continued to dominate the game. Johnson sunk a three pointer early in the quarter, increasing the already substantial lead. Justin Hull (‘16) scored the next two points for Paly after getting a rebound. Later in the quarter, Alex Dees (‘15) earned four points for the Vikings, contributing to the final score of 66-31.

Mullin admitted that Saratoga was not the most challenging team they had played but felt the game was still worthwhile as it gave players on the team with less experience an opportunity to get in some minutes on the court.

“I thought we played really well,” Mullin said. “We made a lot of shots, like we hit a pretty good amount of threes and we got to the foul line which was good. And we fast breaked a lot, the other team wasn’t really getting back on defense so we got a lot of really easy shots off.”

Head Coach, Adam Sax, echoed Mullin’s comments.

“I thought our fast break was much better,” Sax said. “We ran the lanes really well, and had some nice passing.  Defensively we were aggressive—we did some good things on defense as far as trapping and rotating.”

Sax is looking forward to the rest of the season and the growth of the team, “We have zero returning starters,” Sax said, “None of these guys got any minutes last year, so everyday they seem to be getting better. [They’re] really improving in a lot of areas, getting the details down and sharing the basketball.”

The Vikings will take on the Spartans this Friday, January 24th at 7:45 p.m. at Mountain View High School.