Carlmont Scots flip the script on Ngo’s game-winning 3

The Scots (8-1 PAL Bay, 12-8 overall) came out of a timeout in the half-court set with five seconds to play — the product of Carlmont sophomore Jordan Rice wrestling for a loose ball and astutely throwing it off an M-A player as they fell out of bounds — and, trailing by 2, head coach John Schrup and his brother-in-law, assistant coach Dimitri Koutsogeorgas, made a gutsy call to go for the game-winning 3.

“We’ve been coaching together a long time, and I go to him: ‘Should we go for it?’” Schrup said. “And he goes: ‘Yeah, let’s do it. No guts, no glory.’”

To add to the drama, Carlmont had been nearly nonexistent from long range. Prior to the final shot, the Scots, who shot just 34.2% from the field overall, had hit just 1 of 12 from 3-point land to that point.

But when the ball was inbounded in front of the Carlmont bench, Ngo swung around to the opposite corner for a wide-open look. A two-touch pass found him in rhythm, and the senior didn’t hesitate as he let it flow and let it fly.

“It felt good,” Ngo said of the ball leaving his hand. “I’ve practiced it with some of these coaches. It was just like any other shot.”

The game-winner hit nothing but net with that sweet crushing sound all shooters dream about. Two seconds later, the M-A gym filled with the sound of bedlam as the Scots mauled Ngo at the opposite end of the court.

“I have no recollection,” Ngo said. “After I made the shot I was in complete shock.”

Adding to the drama was the shot marked the ninth lead change of the night, with all of them coming in the second half.

M-A (8-1, 15-6) jumped out to a 14-5 lead in the first quarter, thanks to the hot hand of senior Trevor Cadigan. The shooting forward scored a game-high 15 points, eight of them coming in the first period while going coast-to-coast three times — twice on clean takeaways, and once on a hustle play off a midrange rebound.

Meanwhile, Carlmont couldn’t buy a shot, hitting 1 of 9 from the field in the opening stanza, including seven straight misses from beyond the arc.

“I think we were rattled,” Ngo said. “The M-A crowd is always really rowdy, and we kind of didn’t really expect it when we came in here.”

Carlmont switched its tactics in the second quarter, and started relying heavily on the post play of Rice and senior center Tyler Southworth. The two combined for six offensive boards in the second quarter, and finished with seven and eight boards, respectively, in the game. The post play helped the Scots finish the first half on a 10-1 run, to cut M-A’s lead to 20-19 by halftime.

“It wasn’t really necessarily because we weren’t hitting 3s, but we noticed early that we could attack and get by the ... defense,” Schrup said. “So we said: ‘Let’s keep attacking. Let’s keep getting downhill.’”

M-A committed just nine turnovers in the game, but a majority of them were sloppy giveaways — a trend that cost the Bears down the stretch, head coach Craig Carson said.

“They’re very costly,” Carson said. “It’s a one-possession game, right? So, missed free throws, turnovers, missed box outs, not taking the charge, loose ball, those are all really matter in close games.

“We had some silly turnovers,” he said. “In the first half, we were just out of sync. Guys weren’t all on the same page. I just felt we really worked against the zone, and it looked good in practice. Then the game tends to be a different plan.”

Then came the second-half fireworks. The Scots’ first made shot of the second half was its first 3-pointer of the night, an elbow splash by Ngo, to take a 24-22 lead. Cadigan fired right back with a 3-ball from the perimeter to swing the Bears ahead 25-24. A cutting layup down the lane by Carlmont’s Josh Lam changed the lead again, but M-A took it right back on a corner 3 from junior Jerry Williams, who finished with 14 points and eight rebounds.

The lead changed three more times on free throws before Rice danced through the middle to hit a clever hook shot to give the Scots a 37-34 edge at the end of three quarter. But in the fourth, M-A turned the tables in the post, with Williams, junior Luca Auer and junior Will Adbella each turning offensive rebounds into points.

Carlmont remembers Adbella well, after his heroics in the first meeting of the season between the two teams. When the Bears traveled to Carlmont, Jan. 17. it was M-A that celebrated a last-second shot when Adbella hit a buzzer-beater in a 62-60 victory.

“Very similar,” Schrup said. “It came down to the end. I knew it was going to come down to the end. And I told them with one minute left: ‘Hey, we knew this was going to happen. We’ve got to stay focused and be ready.’”

This time around, it was Adbella again who gave M-A its final lead of the night, as the junior scored a put-back with two minutes to play to give the Bears a 43-42 advantage. Free throws from Williams continued to add up, as he hit 7 of 10 in the game, including 5 of 6 in the fourth quarter. His final two free throws upped the Bears’ lead to 45-42.

But a clutch dribble-drive by Carlmont senior Franklin Kuo, giving him 10 points on the night, cut the deficit to 45-44 with 16 seconds to go. Carlmont fouled off the inbound to put the Bears at the free-throw line, where they made just 1 of 2 to set the stage for Ngo’s heroics.

Carson said he wasn’t surprised the Scots went for the 3-pointer when all they needed was two points to force overtime.

“Yeah,” Carson said. “Always with him. ... We were staying on our guys. That guys, when he takes those shots they’re tough because he cocks that ball behind his head. So, it is what it is.”

The loss was M-A’s first in PAL Bay Division play this season. Carlmont now moves into a first-place tie with the Bears with three league games to go in the regular season.