Mars guard Andrew Recchia looks to shoot as Moon's Austin Ryan guards him during the Planets' 72-64 section win over the Tigers Tuesday night. Recchia scored 20 and helped thwart Moon's effort to dictate the tempo against Mars.

ADAMS TWP — Andrew Recchia doesn't want anyone to dictate the pace that him or the Mars boys basketball team plays at.

That's why Recchia appreciates what the Planets learned against Moon Tuesday night at Mars High School. The Tigers dictated the tempo for much of the second half, but Mars was able to escape with a 72-64 Section 2-5A win.

Mars, which had led by as many as 16, saw Moon (9-1, 2-1) tie the game at 61 with 2 minutes, 17 seconds remaining on a basket by Austin Ryan. Sloppy ball-handling by the Planets (8-2, 3-0) had led to empty possessions and a furious Moon rally.

“They were trying to speed us up,” Recchia said. “We didn't do a good job of first at handling the pressure. We kind of let them speed us up, we needed to slow the game down toward the end of the third and beginning of the fourth.”

Recchia got everyone's minds right on the ensuing possession. Driving the lane, Recchia finessed a driving layup around a Tigers defender that banked off the glass and through the net. Sunday also fouled Recchia, who scored 20 points, and he made the free-throw to complete the 3-point play.

“The defender jumped to my right at first, so I took the open lane,” Recchia said. “No one came to me and I took the layup and he fouled me, thankfully.”

Moon coach Adam Kaufman said the Tigers wanted to extend the defense to slow down Mars. In the first half, the Planets had plenty of good looks and took a 45-36 lead into the break.

To start the game, Mars built a 9-0 lead thanks to nine points from Robby Carmody, who scored a game-high 27 on 8-of-20 shooting.

“It was out of necessity,” Kaufman said. “I felt like we were back on our heels and they were attacking us so much. They were kicking the crap out of us in the first half. You have to stand up and fight for yourself or they are going to run you out of the gym.”

But the Tigers hung around. Connor Ryan (26 points), Austin Ryan (15) and Taru Jones (12) all scored in double figures. Mars coach Rob Carmody thought the Planets lost their edge after halftime.

Maintaining a certain pace was necessary for the Planets success.

“In the second half, we stood around,” Carmody said. “I'll take the blame for that. I have to do a better job of making sure that's not happening. Maybe I should have taken a timeout earlier, but you trust your guys to play out of it. We didn't.”

Robby Carmody gave Mars breathing room with 24.8 seconds remaining, scoring on a layup that put the Planets ahead 68-64. Moon wouldn't come close to cutting the lead again.

“It doesn't show right now, but later on down the line in the playoffs it's going to be big for us,” Robby Carmody said. “We were able to close out games. Last year, that was our main problem. Young guys that weren't ready to close out games and I think that's the biggest step we've made so far this year.”

MOON 64

Connor Ryan 10 6-6 26, Austin Ryan 6 0-0 15, Taru Jones 3 4-4 12, Jioni SMith 3 1-2 8, Brady Sunday 1 0-0 2, Nate D'Amico 0 1-2 1. Totals: 23 12-14 64.

MARS 72

Robby Carmody 8 8-8 27, Andrew Recchia 6 3-4 20, Michael Carmody 5 0-0 10, Cade Hetzler 2 3-4 8, Brandon Caruso 2 3-4 7. Totals: 23 17-20 72.

Moon 15 21 10 18 — 64

Mars23 22 12 15 — 72

3-point goals: Moon 6 (Austin Ryan 3, Jones 3, Smith); Mars 8 (Recchia 4, Carmody 3, Hetzler)