The Vikes (3-3) used frenetic full-court pressure in the fourth quarter to outscore the puckish Knights 21-7 in the final eight minutes and put the game in the hopper.

Paly's extended pressure was also a turn of the tables on Menlo, which began the game with a 3/4-court press in an attempt to take Paly out of their half-court offense.

Neither team looked extremely effective in the half-court set, but the Vikes adjusted fairly well in the second half when the Knights came out of their man defense and into a sliding 2-3 zone.

"Menlo played very well," said Paly head coach Pete Diepenbrock. "They mixed up their defenses on us and gave us some trouble in the first half."

Paly didn't get its first hoop of the game until sophomore Gerry Hall hit a 16-footer from the right corner two minutes into the game. Hall had eight first-half points and nine for the game.

The game got scary when Paly's Nik Ajagu stole the ball and attempted a two-hand breakaway slam dunk. The ball caromed off as Ajagu hung on the rim, bending it in the process.

No technical foul was assessed on Ajagu for hanging on the rim, although there could have been.

One of the referees showed good spring as he jumped up and pushed the rim back to the normal ten-foot height.

The Knights' with five points each from Brett Seawell and Matt Benton in the first half, were down just 23-18 at the intermission.

Senior Ryen Peck's two thirdquarter baskets helped Menlo to outscore the Vikings 8-6 in the third quarter to cut the deficit to two moving into the final period.

Then the Vikings, behind the quickness of sophomore point guard Jon Whetstone, began to wreak havoc all over the floor.

Whetstone, who looks to be one of the keys to the Vikings' success this year, had eight of his ten points in the final frame to go with a couple of steals.

"I like to penetrate and dish it off," said Whetstone, who was a first team all-League frosh-soph player last year.

The lead got extended during the final minutes as the Knights opted to put the Vikings on the line, in particular, Aaron Wilson. Wilson hit five-of-eight from the free-throw line in the final period.

Menlo, facirig a height disadvan tage, had no offensive rebounds in the first half, although the bigger Vikings had just three in the first two quarters.

"Their big men were very good," Diepenbrock said. "They played bigger than they are."

First-year Menlo head coach George Weeks spent much of the time complaining about his players getting whistled for traveling violations.

"This was Paly's gym," said Weeks, trying to keep tight-lipped. "We played hard. We didn't shoot well, but we played good 'D'."

Menlo (4-2) plays at Monte Vista Christian (Watsonville) Saturday, while Paly hosts Menlo-Atherton Saturday at 7:30 p.m.