But usually not this important.

Palo Alto (7-7, 1-0 Santa Clara Valley Athletic League DeAnza Division) nailed 36 of 43 free throws last night in a 76-56 rout of Santa Clara (3-9, 0-1) at Paly in what both coaches called the most tightly called game they had seen this season.

"You can call a game tight, but come on," Bruin coach Dedrick Brooks said. "You couldn't get into any kind of flow offensively."

The first quarter saw both teams struggling to score as the frst quarter ended 12-10 in favor of the Vikings. But Santa Clara committed 38 personal fouls and could only stand and watch as Palo Alto pushed ahead with consistent free-throw shooting.

The Vikings hit their first nine free throws and opened up a 10-point lead just before the end of the first half.

"That was the ball game right there," Brooks said of the Vikings numerous foul shot opportunities.

Both teams tried to disrupt the other with hard nosed defense, and both teams succeeded.

But only the Vikings could find any offense, led by Aaron Wilson and Tak Abe, who scored 14 points each, including lO-of-11 free throws for Abe.

The Bruins' only offensive threat came from forward Mike da Silva, whose lay in late in the third quarter brought the Bruins to within eight.

Da Silva finished with a game-high 24 points for Santa Clara.

"A lot of the things we were doing, we were not doing aggressively," Brooks said. "Towards the end we got a little more agressive."

Along with Abe and Wilson, two other Vikings were in double digits. Cliff Anderson pitched in with 11 points, while Jon Whetstone contributed 12.

The Vikings were without leading scorer Nik Ajagu.

Their senior captain sustained a deep thigh bruise and is expected to return to action in the next week, but probably not before the Vikings take on Milpitas tomorrow night.