After a successful 2013 season, the boys basketball team faces a new challenge this year. Due to many seniors graduating last year, the team is rather young.

However, the team does have several new seniors playing for the team this year. This is going to be a great help to the team; experience and leadership are vital components to any team.

Senior forward Alex Dees has a great number of team goals going into the team’s upcoming season.

“I think our realistic goals this year are to win league and to make CCS playoffs,”  Dees said.

According to the team, its main strengths are its long range shooting ability as well as its quickness.

In an interview with senior guard Jonathan Rojahn he explains how the team is going to use these strengths to their advantage.

“We think that we can gain an advantage on other teams by using our speed to run the fast break. Also, we want to try to get the ball to our best shooters to hopefully knock down key shots,” Rojahn said.

The team’s major weakness is once again their size. The team plans to counter this by running the floor and shooting.

While the team lost most of their starting lineup from last year, it is evident that they do not plan on this year to be a rebuilding year. The team has a solid core of seniors who are ready and willing to lead as well as a few juniors with varsity level experience.

They are going to use a full court press the entire game and try to get their share of easy points. Coach Adam Sax plans on making this work by rotating players more frequently and more effectively.

The team is working hard to prepare for their season and has scheduled a few tough preseason games against Archbishop Mitty High School, Bellarmine College Preparatory and Junipero Serra High School, all WCAL teams with powerhouse programs.

“I think that the scrimmages will help us find out where we’re at as a team early in the season,” Rojahn said.

Expect a Paly team that is going to be well coached, disciplined and one that is going to outwork the competition. These things have been a recipe for success for the Vikings of the past.

Paly is very hungry to make up for last year’s loss to Menlo-Atherton High School in the CCS playoffs and looks to start the season out on the right foot.