Yet, the Titans still have plenty to play for with the CCS seedings meeting set for this weekend.

Gunn's 58-52 loss to visiting Los Gatos (8-3) denied the Titans any chance for third place. When Gunn (6-5, 12-13) tangles with crosstown rival Palo Alto tonight at 7:30 p.m., however, it still has the opportunity to finish with a .500 overall record, improve its seeding for the postseason and avenge a frustrating loss at Paly on Jan. 14.

"It's such a big game," Gunn coach Jeff Klenow said of the heated Gunn-Paly rivalry. "But we need to capitalize on turnovers and focus on the free-throw line."

A month ago, Gunn forced 32 Paly turnovers with its effective fullcourt pressure, but missed eight of its final 10 free throws as the Vikings won the game in the final seconds.

Paly (9-2, 15-9) is coming off a 45-34 triumph over visiting Wilcox on Wednesday to remain a game behind league-leading Milpilas (10-1) entering tonight's De Anza Division finale. The Vikings would love nothing better than to sweep its season series against Gunn and gain a full head of momentum entering next week's CCS playoffs.

"The league title is a longshot," said Paly coach Peter Diepenbrock on the prospect of Milpitas losing its league finale tonight to visiting Los Altos (1-10). "But, the Gunn game will be like a championship game."

Against Loss Gatos, Gunn never led and was at a severe height disadvantage, yet somehow found a way to climb back from a 15-2 first quarter deficit. The Titans' pressure defense and transition game allowed them to cut the margin to 25-22 at half and get within 53-50 with 19 seconds to play.

"We felt we had a good shot, but didn't rebound well," said Klenow.

Senior forward Steve Baker led Gunn with 22 points and has averaged 21 points in his last two games. Junior guard Jon Law and senior point guard Anthony Rea added nine and eight points, respectively for the Titans.

Diepenbrock wasn't exactly thrilled with his team's performance versus underachieving Wilcox, which finished the De Anza Division schedule with an 1-11 mark. Still, it was enough to give the Vikings a nicker of hope for a share of the league crown.

"We were not as sharp as we would like to have been," said Diepenbrock. "We might have been a bit overconfident."

Paly pushed out to a 22-16 half time lead and was never threatened for the remainder of the game as senior forward Nik Ajagu paced the Vikings with 17 points and was assisted by junior center Beau Clark's 10 points and impressive defense.