Scots roll into CCS Division I semifinals

“I enjoy breaks,” said Mohammadi, a first-year head coach at his alma mater. “I love extra practices.”

Seems that extra work paid off. It took a little while for Carlmont to get going, but when the Scots got into top gear, they tore away from the Vikings, posting an 85-49 win.

Carlmont (15-10) will be on the road at No. 2 Los Gatos (20-5) for a semifinal game at 7 p.m. Thursday. The Wildcats got past seventh-seeeded Mountain View, 57-52.

It’s hard to say the Scots showed any rust, considering they scored 19 first-quarter points, but it took them a while to get into rhythm. While they waited for that, junior wing Jordan Rice carried Carlmont in the opening eight minutes. He scored his team’s first nine points, with his running floater giving the Scots a 9-3 lead with 2:47 left in the opening period.

“I was pretty surprised (at the 19 point-quarter),” Rice said.”We didn’t get off to a hot start. I was mostly concerned about how we got off to start the game.”

Carlmont led 19-10 after one quarter, with Rice scoring 13 points, grabbing five rebounds and coming up with four steals. He finished with a game-high 31 points, eight rebounds, six steals, a handful of assists and a blocked shot for good measure.

But the real show came in the middle two quarters as the Scots combined for 52 points. They connected on 10 field goals in each quarter and were a combined 20 for 34, good for 59% shooting. They finished the game shooting a robust 55% overall.

But the run started late in the first quarter. Bryan Ling, another junior wing, came off the bench and knocked down his first two shots, draining a pair of left-corner 3-pointers over the final 1:44 of the first period.

Ling continued his hot shooting in the second quarter. He knocked down his third straight 3 from the right corner before Rice blocked a shot, ran the floor, got the return pass, hit the layup and free throw for the three-points play and a 25-12 lead with 6:22 left in the half.

The Scots hit on their first five shots of the quarter. Rice continued his strong play, adding 10 more points in the quarter to give him 23 at the break.

Ling, meanwhile, went on to hit six shots in a row — five 3s and a layup with just over 30 seconds left in the half as the Scots built a 46-25 lead at the break.

“That’s me,” Ling said, crediting the attention Rice draws in opening things up for his teammates.

“When Jordan gets the ball in the block, he just slings it out,” Ling said.

Ling scored all 17 of his points in the first half.

“He’s always been a shooter,” Rice said of Ling. “Tonight, he was wide open.”

In the third quarter, Izzy Han got loose for Carlmont. After Luke Brown scored five quick points to open the third period, Han got hot. He hit a 3, followed by an eight-point Rice flurry.

But Han wasn’t done. He scored on a drive and then scored on a fast break off a Rice steal, converting the ensuing free throw for a 66-37 lead. Han then capped his 11-point quarter with another 3 to put the Scots up 32, 69-37.

The fourth quarter was mostly for the substitutes with Andrew Abboud scoring a pair of buckets around the rim, a three-point play from Evan Sanchez and five points from Emil Gordi, including a 3-pointer to cap the night.

“The boys played great,” Mohammadi said. “The ball was zipping around. They were making decisive decisions. Our boys came out very aggressively — not just with their play but their decision making. They were confident.”