Title is Bears’ to lose

Technically, M-A could still be denied the outright PAL South championship.

But for all intent and purposes, it’s over.

Friday, the Bears did what the they have done to the PAL South the entire season — simply overwhelm the opposition with solid basketball play.

M-A won’t wow anyone with a high-flying style or its athleticism — although guard Justin Anderson, a key cog for the Bears’ state championship football team, is one of the best athletes in the league.

What the Bears do is play tough, hard-nosed, fundamental basketball. They run when the opportunity presents itself, can hurt teams with an offensive set and when things aren’t going their way offensively, the Bears will simply suffocate an opponent defensively.

So while M-A (10-0 PAL South, 19-3 overall) scored only 26 first-half points, Carlmont had an even tougher time scoring, managing only 19 through the first two quarter.

The Bears found their stroke in the third quarter, outscoring the Scots 22-7 to take a 48-26 lead into the fourth and sucking any drama out of the game.

“We watched a lot of film (of M-A’s 65-62 win over the Scots Jan. 11). I told the kids, it’s what they did, it’s what we didn’t do,” said M-A head coach Mike Molieri. “We were focusing on the defensive side (of the ball Friday night).”

M-A was OK in the first quarter, as the Bears outscored Carlmont (8-2, 18-4) 17-8 on 6 of 13 shooting from the field.

But the Bears’ early lead was aided by a plethora of Carlmont turnovers — eight — in the first eight minutes as the Scots attempted only nine shots, making three.

“We were charged up (for this game), but we’re a little worn down by all the battles,” said Carlmont head coach Ron Ozorio. “There’s no room for error. Every game (the last three weeks) has been a playoff game.”

Things got better for Carlmont in the second quarter as the Scots took much better care of the ball. And while they only improved by one basket over the first eight minutes, they didn’t allow M-A to pull away as the Scots trailed just 26-19 at the break.

“I don’t think we shot the ball well at all,” Molieri said.

Ozorio, despite his team’s first-half struggles, believed the Scots still had a shot.

“We held our composure (over the first two quarters),” Ozorio said. “We felt good at halftime. We felt we were still in the game.”

In the third quarter, M-A put it all together. Not only did the Bears hold Carlmont to single-digit scoring, allowing a game-low seven points, but the Bears also got into a rhythm offensively.

A Heath Hooper layup off an assist from Anderson opened the second-half scoring for the Bears and Will Beasley followed with a turnaround jumper on the baseline to put M-A up 30-19. The teams then exchanged baskets before M-A all but put the Scots away. A baseline jumper and the ensuing and-1 from Skyler Thomas ignited a 9-0 run, turning a 32-23 M-A lead into a 41-23 advantage with 2:36 left in the third.

Nick Tripaldi followed Thomas’ 3-point play with a 3-pointer and followed that with three straight free throws after being fouled on another 3-point attempt.

By the time Nils Glader hit a pair of free throws with under a minute left in the quarter, M-A had pushed its lead to 48-26 going into the final period.

At that point, it was all about grinding those last eight minutes off the clock.

Tripaldi scored a game-high 13 points to lead M-A, which also got eight points from Beasley and six from Anderson.

“Everybody chips in,” Molieri said. “We’re not about one player.”

Carlmont was led by Lajuan Nelson, who finished with 10 points. Sho Takahashi, David Bedrosian and Sammy Bean all finished with six points each for the Scots.

“We fought hard,” Ozorio said. “It just wasn’t our night.”