By hell or high water, the Mills Vikings just keep getting it done.
Wednesday’s win over Menlo-Atherton formally announced their presence among the class of the Peninsula and was just the latest in a series of thrilling victories.
After matching their win total from all of last season in the first 12 games, including an impressive victory over Stuart Hall and a triple-overtime thriller over Urban, it was clear that Rick Hanson’s team was going to be among the better teams in the PAL South. All three of their losses were to quality teams in Mission, Marin Catholic and Central Catholic.
But as of late, the most exciting thing has been the manner in which the Vikings have won their first four PAL South games. Against San Mateo, they trailed 42-35 entering the fourth quarter before outscoring the Bearcats 24-11 in the final period, with Nick Brouqua hitting the go-ahead 3-pointer with 50 seconds remaining. In Tuesday’s win over Carlmont, they overcame a seemingly insurmountable 20-point halftime deficit, holding the Scots to just eight points in the third quarter and outscoring them 14-0 in the fourth.
“We moved the basket on their side up to 25 feet,” joked Hanson.
Julius Adkins gave Mills the 39-38 lead on a layup with three minutes to go, completing a comeback against a team that last year outscored the Vikings 14-0 in overtime.
Still, entering Wednesday’s game, the thought was that Mills (13-3, 4-0) was the third team in the PAL South, a considerable step behind Menlo-Atherton and Sequoia. Racing out to a 17-3 lead and fighting off multiple M-A comeback efforts proved that the Vikings are for real. Once again, it was a different star leading the charge, with Colby Vasquez scoring a game-high 22 points.
The one win that wasn’t in dramatic fashion was a 60-40 win at Burlingame, the Vikings’ first win on Burlingame’s floor since 2007. Mills raced out to a 29-8 lead after one quarter and got 22 points from sophomore Michael Matsuno, including six 3-pointers.
For a team that lost so many tight games last year, such as that one to Carlmont, this year has been a series of triumphs in the exact opposite fashion. Next up is Aragon, who swept the Vikings last year, including a madcap 53-51 win in which the Dons took the lead after a technical foul as Mills students raced across the sideline during a timeout in an attempt to get under the basket to distract the Aragon free throw shooter. The Aragon fans then prematurely celebrated on the court, but the Vikings missed their game-tying attempts at the line. A week later, the Dons pulled out another thriller, with Chris Swartz’s 3-pointer with five seconds to go providing the difference in a 49-44 ballgame.
Even rival Capuchino, who the Vikings have dominated over the past decade, had their number last year. In the first meeting, Mills mounted a furious comeback, taking a 40-39 lead with a miraculous 16-0 run, only for A.J. Macaraeg to win it for the Mustangs with a 3-pointer at the buzzer. Capuchino also won at Mills, 60-54 in overtime.
What seems to be the difference this year? Mills had gone 17-31 over the past two years and missed the postseason in both campaigns. Having three returning starters helps, but that’s not the only cause for the Vikings’ return to success.
Perhaps the biggest reason the Vikings are back to their old ways is their surprising dominance on the glass. Mills outrebounded Menlo-Atherton 28-17 and pulled down 11 offensive boards.
“We’ve just got to get to our rebounding positions fast,” said Vasquez. “Coach always gets on us for rebounding, so we’ve just got to get there quick, box out right away, get a body on them and crash the boards.”
It’s still an undersized team, with 6’3 Julius Adkins and 6’5 Jiries Kaileh, who missed Wednesday’s game with an injury, as the two tallest players, but they emerge from zone defense and box out like no other.
Typically, that inability to rebound is what undoes teams who opt to play zone defense, but the Vikings seem to have that covered. They also control the pace of the game, choosing to work for open looks instead of forcing shots, and they have a master clock manager at the helm in Hanson, who was working to limit Menlo-Atherton’s possessions throughout the final four minutes. In the event that they’re trailing in the final minutes, it’s certain that the Vikings will foul earlier than most teams do, and if they’re the ones getting to the line with a late lead, they usually convert. On Wednesday, they made 22 of 26, with Vasquez hitting seven of eight and Aaron Chen going a perfect 6-for-6.
The other thing that hasn’t hampered the Vikings this year is a lack of depth. With Kaileh out on Wednesday, they played just six men, and all five starters played at least 25 minutes. By playing zone defense, they stayed out of foul trouble, with no player committing more than two fouls all game, and they never seemed to tire.
“Playing four games in four days at Marin Catholic helped,” said Hanson. Mills went 2-2 at the Bambauer Classic at the end of December, finishing 7th out of the 16 teams, but the stamina the players developed was critical.
Wednesday’s win over Menlo-Atherton should certainly have the rest of the league and the surrounding area on high alert, not just because the Vikings won, but because of how they did it. Their apparent shortcomings never got in the way, and with two juniors and a sophomore in the starting lineup, it appears this sort of success isn’t just a flash in the pan.
