"Nik was the heart of the team this game," said Paly junior Beau Clark.

The Vikings, whose only Santa Clara Valley Athletic League De Anza Division loss in seven tries was 51-37 to Milpitas earlier this season, turned around to give the Trojans their first De Anza loss in seven tries.

"If Milpitas got this one, it was going to be very, very difficult to catch them," said Paly coach Peter Diepenbrock.

Ajagu came up big on the defensive end with his team holding onto a 49-45 lead with just over a minute to play.

He blocked Trojans center Michael Wright ‹ the game's leading scorer with 16 points ‹ and then dove out of bounds to knock the ball to a teammate.

In the final minute, Ajagu hit four consecutive free throws, the last two with 15 seconds left to give the Vikings (12-8 overall) a fairly insurmountable lead of 53-45.

"The last couple of days, I haven't been shooting that well from the line," said Ajagu, who was successful 7-of-9 times at the line last night.

The Vikings scored the first eight points of the game, but found themselves knotted at 12 with the Trojans after one quarter.

The Trojans finally seemed ready to pull away after Wright's putback of a missed Jason Billie drive made the score 32-27 Trojans.

But the Vikings scored the next six points, including two consecutive baskets as a direct result of a thorny press.

At the end of the quarter, the Trojans ducked a bullet themselves.

Junior Cliff Andersen's short basket gave the Vikings a 37-34 lead, and they got the ball back for what was supposed to be the quarter's last shot.

But the Vikings turned the ball over, and as Wright drove for a fast-break layup, Paly guard Chris Bobel intervened but was called for an intentional foul.

Wright made one of two free throws, meaning that the Vikings entered the fourth up by just two instead of five or six.

In the middle of the fourth quarter, Billie gave the Trojans their last lead at 45-44. Andersen hit a huge three-pointer from the left side with 2:49 to play, inaugurating an 8-0 run and giving the Vikings the lead for good.

Senior Aaron Wilson led the Viking scorers with 13 points. Ajagu finished with 11 points, as did Andersen.

"They're very balanced," said Milpitas coach Steve Cain. "I can't tell you who's the guy to stop."

Billie added 14 points for the Trojans. He nearly pulled the Trojans back into contention in the final minute, but his three-point attempt with 46 seconds to play crawled into the hoop and back out again.