Fusco making big impact for Planets
ADAMS TWP — Uprooted before his senior year and dropped into a place that was foreign to him, Khori Fusco was understandably unnerved.
“It was tough at first,” he said. “The first three weeks, a month, were very hard.”
Fusco was a standout basketball player at Clairton and was coming off a junior season in which he put up gaudy numbers: 20 points, 8.1 rebounds and 6.7 assists per game.
The 6-foot-3 guard found out in the summer, though, that his life was about to undergo a drastic change.
His mother, Shandrea Ramseur, got a new job and decided to move into the Mars area.
After contemplating going to a prep school, Fusco decided to transfer to Mars.
“Here I am now,” Fusco said.
After that adjustment period, Fusco has found a home in Mars.
“Everyone just took me in with open arms,” Fusco said. “It was really nice.
“The basketball team made it way easier. They got me to know everyone. The whole school knows me. I know the whole school. We hang out a lot. We go out to eat and things like that. It's nice.”
Fusco has made a big impact on the court for the Planets, who sit at 15-1 overall and 9-0 in the section with a key home clash coming up Friday against Franklin Regional.
Fusco is averaging 16.2 points, 5.8 rebounds and 3.5 assists this season in a new role as a shooting guard.
Andrew Recchia is the point guard for Mars.
Fusco was just the infusion of talent the Planets needed this season after the graduation losses of Robby Carmody, who averaging 31.1 points and 14.1 rebounds a game, and Cade Hetzler.
“It's been a great two-way thing,” said Mars coach Rob Carmody. “I think we've helped Khori and Khori has really helped out our program. It's been really a great thing.”
Fusco also had to adjust to Carmody's coaching style.
“I'm not the kind of coach that says, 'You did really good tonight,'” Carmody said. “'I'm the kind of coach that says, 'You can do so much more.'”
Fusco has embraced that.
“Coach Rob has helped me so much,” Fusco said. “Ways I couldn't even imagine. Getting in more free throws and more shots in practice and coming in before practice. Learning how to be in the right spot at the right time.”
Fusco said Carmody's “tough love” approach to coaching hasn't discouraged him.
In fact, he said, it's motivated him.
“I respect it a lot,” Fusco said. “He's not being too hard on me. I just have to embrace it. It's coaching. He's just trying to make me better. He expects better from me.”
And Fusco expects better from himself, as well.
“I feel like I can get a lot better,” he said. “I feel like the sky's the limit for us.”
