Palo Alto's boy's basketball team (15-6 overall, 9-2 Santa Clara Valley Athletic League De Anza Division), which will travel to Gunn tomorrow for the always-intense Titan-Viking battle, scrapped their way past Wilcox last night 46-34, a win that didn't leave the Vikings happy about their current state.

"There was a lot of tension," Viking junior Beau Clark said. "We were frustrated. Coach was frustrated. We couldn't handle the ball like we have been."

Palo Alto overcame sloppy play on offence and poor shooting to get past a smaller Wilcox starting five. The Vikings Ieaned on their solid halfcourt defense and smothered the Chargers (8-13, 1-10 DeAnza), who struggled to find open shots all night.

"That's been typical of our season," Charger head coach Josue Valenzuela said. "We work hard on defense, create opportunities and don't capitalize."

The Vikings once again used strong inside play to combat the Chargers physical style. Forward Nik Ajagu scored a game-high 17 points for the Vikings, and Clark added nine.

Ajagu's inside play helped the Vikings get through the first quarter with a 13-10 lead, despite the hot shooting of Charger junior Sam Angervil. Wilcox's point guard drained three first-quarter three-balls, but was the only Charger with a field goal in the quarter.

"We knew he was a three-point shooter," Viking coach Peter Diepenbrock said of Angervil, who finished with a team-high 16 points for Wilcox. "The buckets he hit, I thought we could have done a little better job on."

The Vikings continued to shut down the Charger offense through the first half, and after junior Cliff Andersen hit a three-pointer late in the second quarter, the Vikings took a confortable 22-16 lead into the locker room at halftime.

Palo Alto continued the control the inside in the third quarter, paced by strong play from Ajagu. The 6-foot-5 junior scored nine of Paly's 12 thirdquarter points and helped the Vikings take a nine-point advantage into the final quarter.

"I thought Nik had some nice moves tonight," Diepenbrock said.

But despite controlling the third-quarter, the Vikings grew frustrated down the stretch, unable to shake the Chargers, who remained within 10 until Andersen hit a pair of free throws with six minutes left to play. Andersen finished with nine points for Paly.

"We needed this game to get our groove back," Clark said. "We all have to step up at practice tomorrow."