PALO ALTO — The rivals went into the game Friday night with opposite records. Palo Alto was 6-1 in league, Gunn 1-6.
Mismatch? Well, not exactly. When crosstown rivals meet, most anything can happen.
Gunn, energized by an enthusiastic home rooting section, looked to have the game in hand with a 15-point lead after three quarters. But Palo Alto reversed course with the game on the line, outscoring Gunn 23-4 over the final eight minutes to snatch away a 51-47 victory.
“It was certainly one of the more exciting wins I’ve ever been a part of, at any level,” Palo Alto coach Jeff LaMere said. “Gunn had all the momentum. They were playing a great game. We talked about making stops and just chipping away, chipping away.”
Sophomore Jorell Clark took care of the offensive side in the comeback. He scored all 11 of Palo Alto’s points in the third quarter and added nine more in the fourth. He finished with a game-high 24 points. It was Clark’s fourth 20-point game of the season.
“He’s one of the best sophomores in the area,” LaMere said.
Clark hit a 3-pointer to cut Gunn’s lead to 10 and ignite the rally. Then he scored on back-to-back drives to the hoop to tie it at 46-46 and then give Palo Alto its first lead since the first quarter.
“We really wanted to win this game, it was very important to us,” Clark said. “We didn’t want to let our fans down.”
The student sections for both teams were full to overflowing and they exchanged mostly good-natured insults as is usually the case at Gunn-Palo Alto basketball games.
“I want to give a shout-out to all the students and fans that came,” Lamere said. “This is what high school basketball should be like.”
For Gunn, it was another tough loss in league play. The Titans moved up this season from the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League’s El Camino Division to the De Anza Division. They are 11-0 in non-league play, but 1-7 in the De Anza. They lost by one point to Mountain View and by three to Saratoga.
“I told the kids they played great,” Gunn coach Brandynn Williams said. “If we play like this we will win the majority of our games. Hopefully, with this loss, we can bounce back and I believe we have the fortitude to do that.”
Point guard Ethan Cheng led Gunn with 11 points. James Ford scored 10 and Elliot Grant chipped in with nine and played a strong game on the boards.
Gunn went on a 13-2 run to close the second quarter and take a 28-17 lead at halftime. A three-point play by Colin Lee gave the Titans their biggest lead of the game at 43-28 at the end of the third quarter.
Gunn was up 46-35 when Palo Alto went on a 15-0 run to wrest control.
Sean Hogan scored 11 and came up with a number of key rebounds for Palo Alto.
“He does all the dirty work for us,” LaMere said. “He’s always in the right place, makes great plays defensively and has a high basketball IQ.”
With the win, Palo Alto (16-4, 7-1) can look ahead to its Wednesday home matchup with Los Gatos (14-5, 6-1).
“They beat us up pretty well the first time we played them,” LaMere said of a 60-41 Los Gatos win on Jan. 11. “They were pretty physical and manhandled us. We need to be tougher when we play them on Wednesday.”
Source: www.mercurynews.com