Palo Alto boys basketball stays hot, downs rival 52-38

By Greg Lydon

Hub Correspondent

Palo Alto 11 9 18 14 - 52

Gunn  4  15 7 12 – 38

Scoring

Paly

Max Schmarzo- 17

Brendon Rider- 12

Joseph Lin- 9

Davante Adams- 5

Kevin Brown- 1

Steven Kerr- 4

EJ Floreal- 2

Charlie Jones- 2

Gunn

Matt Redfield- 2

Travis Bowers- 16

Jon Rea- 3

Jack Hannan- 6

Bharat Reddy- 8

Simon Hauser- 3

When the three-headed monster of  Brendon Rider, Joseph Lin and Max Schmarzo are rolling like this, the Palo Alto High boys basketball team is very tough bunch to beat.

The trio combined for 38 points as Palo Alto defeated cross town rival Gunn High-Palo Alto 52-38 in a packed Robert A. Bow gymnasium.

Rider and Lin, both senior guards, along with Schmarzo, a junior forward, shared the basketball beautifully all evening long to match the Gunn scoring output all by themselves.

The friday evening De Anza league showdown on the campus of Gunn High went to the green clad visitors to improve Paly  to 14-6 overall and 7-1 in league.

It was the sixth straight win for the Vikings, all coming in league play.

An 8-point Paly victory over Gunn on Jan. 15 started up the sizzling three-week stretch for the Vikings.

Wins over Los Altos, Homestead, Fremont and Los Gatos followed, putting the Vikings in the drivers seat for a league title.

“When those guys are playing well, we're a pretty good team,” Palo Alto head coach Bob Roehl said. “I'm very proud of Max. Hes set the standard for the rest of the guys of what were looking for out there.”

Schmarzo led all scorers with 17 points, but coach Roehl also praised the Paly gunners' rebounding and defense after the big win.

Gunn came into the game 10-10 overall and 3-5 in league, but couldn't hang with the first place Vikings early.

Schmarzo hit his first three shots, two of them from 3-point land, to help his team take an 11-4 lead after one quarter of action.

Every team has run in them, the Titans scoring surge came in the second.

After a sloppy first quarter, Gunn settled in and got hot from deep to close the gap.

The Titans hit five trey's in the quarter, including three from senior guard Travis Bowers, who finished with a team-high 16 points in a valiant losing effort.

Paly led 20-19 at the break.

“Without the turnovers, its really anybody's game,” Gunn first year head coach Jim Forthoffer said. “I thought we did some nice things tonight. Credit to Paly for playing like a top team.”

With the momentum in the Titans corner, the Paly defense dug in and took back control of the game in a hurry.

Back-to-back Gunn turnovers led to Paly lay-in's at the other end.

Lin stole the first Titans pass and found a streaking Rider at the other end for the smooth lefty lay-in.

Rider returned the favor moments later and found Lin for an easy bucket, pushing the Paly led to six at 27-21.

“That was a huge start for us,” Rider said. “We wanted to come out with a lot of intensity to show we were the better team in the second half. When were clicking like that, its tough to stop us.”

Rider dropped in five more points later in the third and the Vikings led grew to double digits heading into the fourth.

Paly went onto to win the game 52-38.

Both teams hit the court next against Los Altos.

Paly hosts LA on Wednesday, while the Titans square off with the Eagles at Los Altos High Friday night.