LOS GATOS — There’s a reason Friday night’s showdown between Palo Alto and Los Gatos felt like a championship game.
In their first meeting since last year’s Central Coast Section Division I boys basketball final, Palo Alto refused to give up in front of a raucous crowd before escaping in double overtime with a 77-68 victory on the road.
“Double OT, it was insane,” Paly senior Max Dorward said. “Everything had to go our way at the end of regulation, and then things also went our way in overtime. We just kind of executed and did what we needed to do to get the win.”
To remain unbeaten in the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League, heroics were required by the Vikings (14-2, 5-0 De Anza).
The back-and-forth contest seemed within grasp for the Wildcats (12-5, 3-2) with 13.2 seconds left in the fourth quarter — moments after guard Alex Braken-Guelke was fouled for his 17th and 18th points.
But following a missed free throw by Dorward trailing 63-60, Los Gatos senior Dylan Belquist — and his team-high 21 points — fouled out during a battle for the rebound.
After a long delay, the refs determined to give Paly an inbound play rather than another trip to the charity stripe.
The Vikings drew a play off a timeout, but the game-tying 3-pointer missed the mark. Instead, Paly senior Paul Jackson III, who missed the first 10 games of the season with a lingering ankle injury from football season, got hacked during a putback with 5.7 seconds left.
“I just felt like all game I wasn’t taking advantage of getting on the boards,” said Jackson, who mentioned an assistant coach stressed the importance of crashing the glass. “So I just saw that as an opportunity. We had nothing to lose, we were down three, and I just went up and tried my best to put it back in.”
There was still the issue of the free throw, trailing 63-62.
“I was a little nervous, but then Will Schlemmer actually told me, ‘Just got this Paul, we’re behind you and we’ve still got a chance even if you do miss it,’ ” said Jackson, with half of his 12 points coming from the line. “And that just really helped me focus my shot.”
In the first overtime, Los Gatos guard Cade Toarmina, who registered 15 points, drained a 3-pointer with 1:05 left to go up 68-64.
It seemed enough to pull off the upset in order to force a three-way tie atop the standings with Los Altos.
That’s when Paly found life with 1.4 seconds after Dorward got fouled trying to tie the game with 14 seconds left. All he needed to do was drain a pair of pressure-packed free throws in a deafening environment.
“Before I got the ball, I could hear the student section,” Dorward said. “As soon as I got the ball and went through my routine, I just kind of went blank. Like, I tuned everything out and I just focused on the free throws and I was able to knock them down.”
In the second four-minute overtime Los Gatos failed to regain momentum and was held scoreless, while Paly got things going with a fourth 3-pointer by Jared Wulbrun, who finished with 14 points off the bench after missing the previous game an ankle injury.
“It wasn’t the best composure to get ourselves in that situation,” Paly coach Peter Diepenbrock said. “It wasn’t like we played the greatest game, but no question when it came to it, … just a real team effort.”
Paly had four players in double digits, along with 11 points from center Bryant Jefferson.
“It was a huge win,” Dorward said. “It puts us at the top of the league. Now we just gotta focus on our next opponent, Mountain View, and get that win as well.”
“Whenever we play league games, there’s always a great atmosphere,” Jackson said. “And definitely with Los Gatos being our rivals, a lot is on the line for this game. And they’re always one of the best teams in our league, so this game definitely meant a lot now and looking down the road for playoffs.”
