M-A beats buzzer, Carlmont

For Carson and and his Carlmont counterpart, John Schrup? “Agonizing” might be a better word.

Both coaches and their teams had wild swings of emotions in the final 10 seconds of their Peninsula Athletic League showdown Friday night in Belmont. And at the buzzer, it was a Will Abdella layup off the most improbable of passes from Jacob Sutton that gave M-A a wild, 62-60 victory.

Considering both teams came into Friday night’s game with 3-0 records in Bay Division play, was it too early to hype up the game as a possible championship preview?

“It’s a big game,” Carson said. “I don’t know what happened down there at the end.”

Here’s what happened. M-A (4-0 PAL Bay, 12-3 overall), which led 59-51 with 1:37 to play, nearly coughed up the lead. Carlmont (3-1, 6-8) went on a 7-1 run to close to 60-58 with 26 left and when Carlmont’s Jordan Rice emerged from the scrum under the basket and laid in a shot, the game was tied at 60-all with nine second to play.

M-A inbounded the ball to Sutton, who pushed the ball upcourt, attacking the paint. Next thing you know, Sutton is falling to the ground, but from his stomach, had the instinct to flip the ball up — right into the hands of Abdella, who slashed to the basket and laid the ball in as the clock expired.

It capped a big night for Abdella, who finished with 10 points and eight rebounds, three of which were on the offensive end. And it seemed all five of his field goals came at crucial moments. In addition to his buzzer beater, he had a putback to end the third quarter, giving the Bears a 51-44 lead going into the final eight minutes.

“Will was in the right spot all night long,” Carson said. “He and Bobby Redmond. One or the other stepped up their game every night. Tonight, it was Will’s turn.”

While the teams were going right at each other all game long, there was a game within the game as M-A’s Jerry Williams and Carlmont’s Jeremiah Philips engaged in their own personal 1-on-1 battle, as they took turns attacking each other in the second half.

In the end, it was pretty much a stalemate. Williams finished with a team-high 15 points, 10 coming in the second half. He also had a pair of blocks. Philips finished with 13 points and also had two blocks.

“Two great athletes,” Carson said.

But this was a game that would not be decided by one player. Both teams are too good to let one player beat them and both teams have a plethora of scoring options. That was apparent from the opening tip as six Bears and four Scots scored in the first quarter. Carlmont opened the scoring, but M-A responded with a 6-0 spurt. When Carlmont’s Camden Ngo knocked down the second of his six 3-pointers on the night, it tied the game at 12-all.

Ngo would finish the game with a game-high 20 points.

But the Bears closed the quarter on a 9-2 run to lead 21-14 after the first period.

It was a short-lived advantage, however, as the Scots scored the the first seven points of the second quarter. Ngo knocked down a 3, followed by a steal and coast-to-coast layup from Philips. When Franklin Kuo beat the Bears’ defense off the dribble, Euro-stepping around the last defender for a beautiful layup, the game was tied at 21-all.

And the Scots kept pushing. A Ngo 3 gave the Scots a 26-23 lead, their first since 2-0. That was followed by another layup and a pair of free throws from Kuo and Carlmont was up 30-26.

But Trevor Cadigan, who finished with 13 points, answered back for M-A. He drained a 3 and then converted a layup before another finish at the rim from Luca Auer gave the Bears a 33-32 lead with 1:49 left in the half.

But the Scots scored the final four points to lead 35-33 at the break.

A pair of Williams free throws tied the game at 35 to start the second half, but Philips responded with a pair of buckets, followed by a layup from Rice, who muscled his way up through the defense, giving Carlmont a 41-38 lead with half of the third quarter left to play.

The Bears responded by going on a 13-3 run, with five players scoring. Williams hit two more free throws, Cadigan scored on a slashing drive to the basket, Dominic Auer came up with a steal and layup to put M-A up 49-44.

Two free throws from Cadigan, followed by a pair of Abdella buckets sandwiched around a free throw and the Bears were up 51-44 going into the fourth.

Over the final eight minutes, however, the Bears could not put the Scots away, who nearly pulled off a stunning comeback.

“Every time we come here, it’s a battle. It’s one or two plays that make a difference,” Carson said. “That was the definition of a barnburner.”

Editor's note: This story has been updated to show that Carlmont's Camden Ngo hit six 3-pointers and finished with 20 points.