Carlmont defense locks down Vikings

The Carlmont boys' basketball team showed Friday night why it is one of the favorites to win the Peninsula Athletic League's Bay Division title. The Scots shut down a potent Mills squad in a 54-40 victory in Belmont. "It was a complete game," said Carlmont coach Dave Low. "We don't play like that all the time. Hopefully, with this game, they'll understand they can play a complete game." Using a suffocating man-to-man defense, Carlmont (2-0 PAL Bay, 13-2 overall) kept Mills (1-1, 11-5) in check. The only Viking to really make any noise was point guard Kyle Wong, who scored a team-high 15 points. The Vikings' other two main scorers -- Darryl Wong and Kevin Matsukura -- were held to a combined 19 points. Low said there was no plan to concentrate shutting down Darryl Wong. He said he wanted to keep all three of the Vikings big men locked down. While Kyle Wong did most of the damage, Carlmont's James Testa -- along with a couple players off the bench -- held Darryl Wong to just three field goals and 4 for 5 shooting from the free throw line. "James Testa is a phenomenal man-to-man defensive player," Low said. In addition to the tight defense, the Scots also did a great job on the boards, more often than not holding the Vikings to just one shot per possession. Carlmont out-rebounded Mills 28-21, with Nolan Richins pulling down a game-high nine rebounds. Testa added six boards. "That was probably our best man defense all year," Low said. "We had to be 100 percent solid on defense. We had to control the boards." Offensively, Carlmont had three starters score in double figures. The Scots were led by Testa's 18 -- eight of which came at the free throw line. Suhail Mohammadi chipped in with 15 and Richins added 13. The game was a methodical one from the start, with both teams setting up in half-court offenses and working the shot clock down to single digits. Mills actually led 11-9 after the first quarter. A Matsukura 3-pointer broke a 6-6 tie, but he was answered by a Testa 3 with 45 seconds left in the quarter. A Kyle Wong bucket with seven seconds left gave Mills the lead after one. From there, it was all Carlmont. Brian Barret knocked a jumper along the baseline to tie the score at 11, but Mills answered with a free throw from Kyle Wong and a mid-range jumper from Arakel P. Aristakessian. The Scots responded with a 7-0 run that gave them the lead for good. Mohammadi knocked down a long jumper off the glass and then grabbed a defensive rebound on the other end and went coast-to-coast for a layup. Testa punctuated the run with an offensive rebound putback and then hit the free throw when he was fouled on the shot. Testa completed another three-point play to give the Scots a 21-16 lead at halftime. After the teams exchanged baskets to start the third, the Scots used another six-point, mini run to give them some breathing room. Richins and Testa hit four straight free throws, followed by a Richins layin and the Scots had a 12-point lead, 30-18, with 3:35 left in the third. Mills crept back, getting a 3-pointer from Kyle Wong and back-to-back layups from Anthony Berkovatz and Matsukura, to cut their deficit to 30-25 with just under two minutes to play in the third. Testa countered the Vikings' run with five straight points to end the quarter -- including a 3-pointer with 12 second left. Mills finally got its offense untracked in the fourth quarter, scoring a game-high 15 points. Carlmont, however, did the same, scoring a game-high 19 points over the final eight minutes as the Scots never let their lead get under nine points.