Desired result
ADAMS TWP — It may be a work in progress, but the Mars boys basketball team is still getting the desired result.
Despite a poor shooting effort for much of the game, the Planets improved to 4-0 in Section 1-AAA with a 71-59 defeat of visiting Freeport Tuesday night.
Mars coach Rob Carmody wants his team to take its play to the next level.
“You have to be consistent,” he said. “We could make a lot of excuses — there's no school right now, we've had a week off, some of our guys have been sick. Tony Dungy said, 'There are no excuses, no explanations. You have a job to do. Just go out and do it.'”
Mars held a comfortable 56-32 lead at the start of the fourth quarter, but led by junior forward Josh Beale, the Yellowjackets managed to make things interesting. He drained three 3-pointers in the period, the third cutting his team's deficit to 64-49 with 3:57 to play. Kris Keppel hit a trifecta of his own with one minute left to make it a 10-point game, but Freeport simply ran out of time.
Mars' poor effort from the foul line in the final eight minutes aided the 'Jackets' 27-15 run.
“You're trying to close a game out and you go five-of-12 at the foul line,” Carmody said. “Every time you miss a shot, it's basically like giving a possession away.”
The Planets were 0-of-8 from 3-point range in the first quarter and they finished the game just four-of-25 from beyond the arc.
“I want the 3-pointer to be a weapon in our offense, but I don't want it to be our offense,” Carmody said. “We shot way too many of them tonight. I'm just asking our guys to take good shots.”
After sloppy play on both sides led to an 8-8 stalemate after eight minutes of play, the Planets hit their stride in the second quarter.
They prefer to play a full-court game and Freeport struggled to keep up with the fast pace. Mars senior center John Castello scored eight of his game-high 24 points in the second period and the Planets out-rebounded the Yellowjackets 13-6.The hosts took a 30-18 lead into halftime.“Mars wants to dictate the tempo and they have the athletes to do it,” said Freeport coach Mike Beale. “We knew that coming in. You have to make shots, but we missed a lot early on. If we make a few more, we would have been right in it.”Castello finished with 18 rebounds to go with his 24 points. Alex Gruber added 14 points for the Planets.“John and Christian Schmitt are the only two players who saw a lot of varsity time last year,” added Carmody. “Overall, I am pleased that we are 10-1 (overall) going into the new year. It gives us a chance to reboot, look in the mirror and start paying attention to what we need to improve on.”Josh Beale scored 16 of his 23 points in the final eight minutes. He added six rebounds and four steals.“He's got some kind of virus, but he battled through it tonight,” Mike Beale said.Codey Digiacobbe contributed 12 points for Freeport (8-3, 2-2).FREEPORT 59Mason Eddinger 4 0-0 8, Kevin Lynch 2 3-3 7, Kris Keppel 2 1-2 7, Brandon Hochbein 1 0-0 2, Codey Digiacobbe 6 0-0 12, Josh Beale 7 6-7 23, Marshall McCormick 0 0-4 0, Jon Wise 0 0-0 0. Totals: 22 10-16 59.MARS 71Aaron Gruber 1 0-0 2, Alex Gruber 6 2-5 14, John Castello 10 4-4 24, Bailey Trzeciak 1 0-0 3, Ryan Giallonardo 1 1-2 4, Nate Sablowski 2 0-0 5, Christian Schmitt 2 3-4 7, Robby Carmody 3 2-8 9, Mitch Verplank 1 1-2 3, Brent Ashbaugh 0 0-0 0, Sam Morrissey 0 0-0 0. Totals: 27 13-25 71.Freeport 8 10 14 27 — 59Mars8 22 26 15 — 713-point goals: Freeport 5 (Keppel 2, Beale 3); Mars 4 (Trzeciak, Giallonardo, Sablowski, Carmody).Saturday: Mars vs. Penn-Trafford at North CatholicTuesday: Hampton at Freeport
