Mars drains 17 treys in win over North Hills
ADAMS TWP — Rob Carmody has seen many very capable outside shooters come through Mars in his 25 years of coaching varsity boys basketball for the Planets.
He’d never seen a half, however, like he witnessed Tuesday night.
The Planets were on fire in the first 16 minutes of the section opener against visiting North Hills, sinking 68 percent (15 of 22) of their attempts from beyond the arc. Mars scored 34 points in the first quarter alone and let 56-38 at halftime en route to an 85-73 victory.
“We have the guys capable of doing it,” said Carmody. “North Hills shot the ball well, too (16 of 28 in the first half), but our ball movement was so crisp. Some of those 3s were taken from a different area code. That first half was perfect.”
Mars (6-4, 1-0) was hot from the start. It drained five treys in the first four minutes and 15 seconds of the contest — two each from Drew Navetta and Ryan Ceh and another from Austin Campbell. By the end of the period, Austen Wroblewski joined the party with two treys of his own.
Wroblewski finished the game with five of his team’s 17 makes from the outside.
“We knew they had several players who could hit from out there, but we lacked any type of urgency on defense tonight,” said North Hills coach Buzz Gabos. “It’s been a recurring thing with us. We don’t seem to have the want to do it.
“We started out playing man (defense) tonight and they were going nuts against it, so we switched to a 2-3 zone and still they were making ‘em. It was crazy.”
Ceh, who drained four treys and scored a career-high 34 points in the win while adding 13 rebounds, said he could sense frustration from the Indians (4-5, 0-1).
“It’s hard not to get down when a team’s hitting shot after shot like that,” he said. “They had to be thinking, ‘What can we do.?’
“We were rebounding really well and they were chasing us all over the floor.”
The Planets attempted just six treys in the second half and made over half of their shots from the floor (13 of 24), never allowing North Hills to threaten their lead.
Ceh scored all 10 of Mars’ points in the fourth period on five field goals.
Wroblewski scored 15 points, Campbell had 14 points and Navetta 12.
North Hills was led by 25 points from Eric James. Zach Pollaro scored 22 and Jackson Long 14.
Mars lost three straight games by a combined 13 points prior to a trip to Florida in late December. While in the Sunshine State, the Planets won three straight before earning Tuesday’s section triumph.
“I think we’re starting to figure some things out,” Carmody said. “One constant, and it may not show up in the stats, is Ian Zukowski (senior forward). He’s consistently created energy for us all season.”
NORTH HILLS 73
Michael Blass 1 0-0 3, Nathan Schanbacher 2 0-0 4, Zach Pollaro 9 1-2 22, Eric James 10 5-8 25, Ryan Carey 2 0-0 4, Kieshaun Demus 0 1-2 1, Jackson Long 5 0-0 14. Totals: 29 7-12 73.
MARS 85
Austin Campbell 5 0-0 14, Drew Navetta 4 0-0 12, Remi Black 2 1-2 5, Ryan Ceh 14 2-2 34, Ian Zukowski 1 0-0 2, Ben Detisch 1 1-2 3, Austen Wroblewski 5 0-0 15, Brady Jordan 0 0-2 0. Totals: 32 4-8 85.
North Hills 21 17 16 19 — 73
Mars 34 22 19 10 — 85
3-point goals: North Hills 8 (Long 4, Pollaro 3, Blass); Mars 17 (Wroblewski 5, Campbell 4, Navetta 4, Ceh 4).
Friday: Mars at West Allegheny
