NorCal upset: Palo Alto shooters light up Santa Teresa as Vikings topple top-seeded Saints

SAN JOSE –Santa Teresa has been one of the highest-scoring teams in the Central Coast Section this season. 

But in an unpredictable post-season that tends to confound prognostication, it was Palo Alto who lit it up on offense Thursday in a 64-49 victory at Santa Teresa in the NorCal Division IV quarterfinals.

No. 8 seed Palo Alto (20-8) moves on to play at No. 4 Union Mine on Saturday in the NorCal semifinals. Union Mine is located in El Dorado, just outside Placerville.

“The guys were excited to still be playing, it’s an honor to play in the state playoffs,” Palo Alto coach Jeff LaMere said. “It’s a very close group. We have a tough, resilient, gritty group.”

Palo Alto torched Santa Teresa’s zone defense in the first half, making 14 of 29 field-goal attempts and knocking down six 3-pointers in taking a 34-20 lead at the break.

No. 1 seed Santa Teresa  (20-8) came out flying around in a fullcourt press in the third quarter and got the tempo going its way, cutting the Palo Alto lead to five on a couple of occasions. 

But the Saints could get no closer. Palo Alto settled itself down in the fourth quarter, spreading the court and moving the ball quickly before double teams could arrive.

“They handled our pressure well,” Santa Teresa coach Patrick Judge said. “We came out tight, Palo Alto came out loose. At the end we ran out of gas. They hit some big shots, run-stoppers late in the shot clock. Hats off to them, Palo Alto’s a great program, and that’s what we’re trying to build here.”

Santa Teresa scored 90 or more points in a game four times this season.

“Our mental attitude coming into the game, we’re the 8 seed, they’re the 1 seed, but in state that doesn’t matter,” Palo Alto center Aiden Hangebrauck, aka Big Red, said. “Defense is what we do, defense is what we’re taught. That’s how we got ourselves here to the state tournament.”