ADAMS TWP — Dave Petruska's zone turned into Knoch's twilight zone.

The senior guard for the Mars boys basketball team was on fire Tuesday night, draining six 3-pointers, as the Planets won a critical section showdown 65-60 at Mars High.

Three of Petruska's 3-pointers came in a span of 1:35 of the third quarter to turn a 33-31 Knoch lead into a 40-33 edge for Mars.

"We allowed them to hit too many 3-pointers," Knoch coach Chris Andreassi said of the Planets, who made a total of nine in the game. "We knew (Petruska) was a 3-point shooter, and you can't leave him open like we did.

"But give him credit. He made them."

The 18 points are a career high for Petruska.

"It feels awesome to have that kind of night in a big game like this," he said.

"Shooters shoot to get hot and they shoot to stay hot, and our kids did a great job of getting Dave the ball," said Mars coach Rob Carmody.

Petruska's fifth 3-pointer gave the Planets a 47-36 lead with 2:30 left in the third period.

Knoch closed the quarter on a 6-0 run, and, due in large part to Kyle Reiser's nine points in the fourth period, moved to within 56-54 with 3:19 remaining.

But the Planets (8-7, 3-3) received clutch free throws from Chris Herold, Steve Cress and Vinny Smith in the closing minutes to ice the win.

"Without a doubt, I expected Knoch to make a run at us," said Carmody. "You look at some of the names on that team, Rob Briggs, Kyle Reiser, Mike Gallagher — they had success in football and they're confident in what they do.

"The trick is to keep their runs as short as possible," he added.

Cress' two free throws early in the fourth quarter put him at exactly 1,000 points for his career. He ended the game with 22 points and now stands at 1,002 for his career.

"It's a great feeling getting to 1,000," said Cress. "But it feels even better to get the win because this was a big one for us."

Only four players scored for the Planets: Petruska, Cress, Herold (14 points) and Smith (11).

But Carmody made a point to commend senior Justin Stadelmyer on a job well done on defense.

"His energy on defense really set the tone for us tonight," Carmody said of Stadelmyer, who is not a regular starter but did start Tuesday night. "He took a big charge early in the game to stop a Knoch run."

For the Knights, the loss drops them to 2-4 in section play, 6-8 overall. Their starting point guard, Shawn Samek, is nursing a separated shoulder suffered late last month.

Knoch has lost its last four games, all without Samek.

Andreassi is unsure when Samek might return, but he is not worried about his team's confidence.

"These kids are athletes and they're veterans," he said. "If we make a run, we're right back in this thing."

Reiser led the Knights with 19 points while Mike Gallagher and Aaron Boldy both had 11.

Notes: Knoch committed 11 turnovers and Mars had eight. ... Both teams shot 51 percent from the field, the Planets at 21-of-41 and Knoch at 23-of-45. ... The two teams will meet Feb. 1 at Knoch.

KNOCH 60Mike Gallagher 4 1-2 11, Andrew Wirtz 1 0-0 3, Kyle Reiser 8 2-5 19, Jake McTighe 2 3-4 8, Aaron Boldy 5 0-1 11, Rob Briggs 3 1-2 8, Josh Lio 0 0-0 0, Preston Saxton 0 0-0 0.

Totals: 23 7-14 60.

MARS 65Steve Cress 8 4-4 22, Vinny Smith 3 5-8 11, Chris Herold 4 5-9 14, Dave Petruska 6 0-0 18, Justin Stadelmyer 0 0-0 0, Ben Szilogy 0 0-0 0, Alec Mahon 0 0-0 0, Christian Locher 0 0-0 0.

Totals: 21 14-21 65.

Knoch 16 15 11 18—60Mars 18 13 16 18—653-point goals: Knoch 7 (Gallagher 2, Boldy, Briggs, Wirtz, McTighe, Reiser); Mars 9 (Petruska 6, Cress 2, Herold).

JV: Mars 49-35

Friday: Highlands at Mars; Knoch at Kittanning