Vikings flatten Foothill to cap 28-0 regular season

West Valley's 88-67 Friday night drubbing of a solid Foothill squad earned the Vikings the program's first-ever undefeated regular season and the #1 overall seed in this week's 3C2A NorCal playoffs.

The Vikings (28-0, 12-0 Coast-South) raced out to a 5-0 lead to open the game and never looked back against the Owls (13-15, 4-8), a team that had beaten second-place Cabrillo by 13 a week ago.

That 5-0 lead grew into a 36-24 halftime advantage after five straight points from Shakir Odunewu, an Aaron Ragen bucket and an Ariya Briscoe three-pointer.  

The second half opened much the same way as the first, with the Vikings reeling off five unanswered points for a 41-24 lead two minutes in. Seven straight Jeremiah Dargan points gave WVC a 50-33 lead at 14:33 and set the stage for a one-doesn't-see-that-everyday six-point possession from Briscoe.

A shooting Briscoe was fouled by Chase Durkee, who was assessed two technical fouls and ejected. Briscoe drained all six free throws to boost the Viking lead to 56-33 with 13:40 to go.

The West Valley lead grew to 76-49 with 7:21 left and it was all over except for the usual parade to the free-throw line in the last few minutes.

Odunewu paced WVC scorers with a game-high 19, followed by Dargan with 14 and 12 each from Briscoe and Elijah Mahi.

With the #1 NorCal seed, the Vikings earned a first-round playoff bye and will host the winner of Wednesday's opening-round matchup between #16 Las Positas (17-11) and #17 Los Medanos (20-8) on Saturday (3/2). Tipoff is 7:00pm.

Playoff preview coming soon.