Vikings (16-10), seeded fourth in the Central Coast Section Division III playoffs, fell victim to deadly three-point shooting by the Mustangs on their way to a devastating 45-34 upset loss at Palo Alto last night.

Capuchino ( 15-12) knocked down nine three-pointers, six of which came from senior guard Chris Victor.

"He has been our team," Mustangs coach Pete Harames said of Victor, who finished with a game-high 32 points.

The Mustangs, who trailed for much of the first half, took their first lead midway through the second quarter when Victor pulled up for a long three-pointer and dropped it in to give Capuchino a 14-12 advantage.

The Vikings tried to keep pace with the Mustangs by pounding the ball inside to forwards Nik Ajagu and Tak Abe.

But the undersized Capuchino frontline matched the Vikings' physicality inside, while their guards played solid help defense, providing double- and triple-teams that forced the Vikings to settle for outside shots.

"We worked on that help defense on (Ajagu)," Harames said.

The Vikings managed to regain the lead late in the third quarter when senior Aaron Wilson hit a three pointer to put Palo Alto up by one,

But the Mustangs went right back to what they do best as Victor and guard Randy Hata nailed back-to-back threes to put Capuchino ahead 28-23.

"We shoot a lot of threes," Victor said. "Usually, they go in."

But despite the hot shooting of Victor and Hata, who pitched in with eight points for the Mustangs, the Vikings had an opportunity to regain some momentum late in the third quarter.

Junior Cliff Andersen took a backdoor pass and went unguarded to the basket, but couldn't convert the wide-open dunk that would have cut the lead to three.

Andersen then was issued a technical foul for hanging on the rim, giving Victor two free throws and the Mustangs the ball with a seven-point lead.

"A team that's struggling to make baskets can't afford to miss a wide open dunk," Diepenbrock said. "Just score the layup."

Palo Alto crept back to within three on a pair of free throws from sophomore Jon Whetstone that cut the score to 37-34.

But the Mustangs finished the game on an 8-0 run to steal the upset victory.