Causing them to drop to 7-3 in the league, the varsity boys basketball team lost to Gunn 65-63 in overtime on Feb. 3.

Head coach Jeff LaMere said the team’s goal of winning the league is still achievable. 

“We’re still in good shape, 7-3 in league,” LaMere said. “If we win the next two games, we win league… but we got to be better.”

LaMere said one thing the Paly team could improve on is defense.

“Defensively, we were really poor, especially guarding the drives,” LaMere said. “We need to improve that if we want to win more games.”

Senior Riley Yuen said the team had a weak start but made good progress in the second half of the game.

“I think we came out super slow,” Yuen said. “We could have made a lot of better adjustments, but I think we fought back in the second half. I’m really proud of the team for that.”

Yuen said though he regrets ending his last Gunn game with a loss, he enjoyed playing.

“It’s really fun to play Gunn, but it really sucks to lose,” Yuen said. “I’ve played Gunn all my years in high school, so it really sucks to end on a loss, but it was a great game.”

LaMere said the intense competition and close score kept crowd energy high throughout the game.

“The town rivalry is awesome,” LaMere said.
“The crowd here is tremendous. There was great student support.”

Paly alumni and former varsity basketball player Nikolas Ajagu said the atmosphere was similar to when he played. 

“There was a huge rivalry,” Ajagu said. “This reminded me of it… the Paly section going crazy.”

Though Paly lost, the game was close, going into overtime after a 61-61 tie at the end of the fourth quarter. LaMere said he commends Gunn on their gameplay and defensive intensity. 

“Gunn played a great game, and they scored the ball really easily against us,” LaMere said. “They scored the ball. They hit tough shots, and we were climbing uphill the entire game. Hats off to Gunn. It was a great game.”