Even before the opening tip-off, it was a memorable day for four players on the team; Tripp Garrish, Brady Greene, Luke Paterra, and Jaidin Wolff, as it was their senior night, a day to celebrate all of their achievements over their respective high school careers.
These seniors have faced plenty of obstacles to fight through to make it to this point, giving them more of a reason to celebrate their accomplishments.
“With COVID-19, it’s been a struggle since a lot of stuff happened in the family and in my life so I had to do things that kept me happy. Fortunately, basketball was one of those things so I just got to go to the park or gym with my little brother Jakob and my dad every day for an hour and just play,” Wolff said.
However, once the big day came for these seniors, there was nothing but praise and love from their fellow teammates and coaches.
Senior Brady Greene soaks in the moment with his family.
“[The seniors] have a huge impact. Two of our three team captains are seniors and they make sure we’re all doing what we’re supposed to be doing in practice. All four of them, Tripp, Brady, Jaidin, and Luke are all great leaders,” said junior James Tofigh.
“I’m super proud of our seniors, this group really provides a maturity that we really need, so they are valuable, super-valuable,” said Carlmont head coach Ron Ozorio.
The Offense Strikes Back
With love for the seniors uniting the Scots, the re-energized varsity team wasted no time getting off to a hot start in the first quarter. The Scots began the game with 20 unanswered points and ultimately ended the quarter with an astounding 22-1 lead on the Vikings.
Mills would not come close to Carlmont’s lead for the rest of the game, with the Scots defense holding the Mills shooters to a mere 20 points through all four quarters to end the game with a 64-20 lead. Enzo Carvalho-Goncalves, a junior, led the way on the stat sheet with 18 points, including two electrifying three-pointers in back-to-back possessions in the fourth quarter.
Junior James Tofigh draws a foul while attempting a jumper.
“Every game is important right now, we’re in first place and we got to stay there. Friday we have to play at Woodside. We beat them at home already, but we’re going to have to beat them up there with their fans, so that’s a challenge,” Ozorio said.
The Scots have three more games left on the regular-season schedule to cement their first-place finish, and after that, the team has set higher goals for themselves.
“It’s an unbelievable season so far, [I] hope to keep it up until we get that CCS banner because that’s the ultimate goal of ours as a team,” Wolff said.
Return of the Fans
The big day was made even bigger for the seniors, as the matchup against Mills was also the first basketball game this season that would be open to the general public, allowing for more energy, student sections, and an overall better playing environment.
“We’re following the guidelines by the county, and it did allow for indoor events with no more than 500 people to occur. We decided that since it’s been a month since the start of school and we’ve started to see a slight dip in Omicron cases, we would start to let people come in with understanding they would have to be masked up,” said Carlmont athletic director Patrick Smith. “Adding in students and student sections who are also very into the game can definitely heighten the performance of players.”
Coach Ozorio also shared a similar opinion, stressing the importance of having fans behind the players.
“It’s super, and it’s really important to the kids. Like I don’t care, but it means a lot to the kids, and it gives them a much-needed boost,” said Ozorio.
Carlmont students and fans will have another chance to energize the varsity boys basketball team on Feb. 9, when the Scots will be hosting Capuchino, their last regular-season home game.
Rintaro Sato is a junior in his second year of journalism and he hopes to bring his love of sports and research to Scot Scoop. Sato plays baseball at Carlmont as well as at GamePrep Baseball Academy and he enjoys watching and following various other sports along with baseball in his free time. Sato is also one of the junior class vice presidents for the Scots.
