GREENSBURG — As Mars boys basketball coachRob Carmody said, the Planets were playing with house money.

Tossed into the WPIAL Class AAA playoffs at the last minute after Valley was booted from the tournament for using an ineligible player, Mars went into Friday's game against Mount Pleasant with little to lose.

"We went all-in," Carmody said.

Unfortunately for the Planets, Mount Pleasant pulled out one heck of a river card.

Chet Welc hit a fallaway bank shot off a miss by Jordon Jones at the buzzer to give the Vikings a 51-50 win at Hempfield High School.

"They had a better hand in the end than we did tonight," Carmody said, continuing the metaphor.

Mars (12-12) started the game with pocket aces, as the Planets rolled to a 21-4 lead with two minutes remaining in the first quarter.

Senior Steve Cress scored 11 points during that run and Mars appeared ready to blow Mount Pleasant out of the gym.

But the Vikings remained calm and slowly chipped away at the lead, holding Cress scoreless in the second period and to 22 points in the game. Cress was the only Mars player in double digits.

Welc, who is heading to California (Pa.) University to play basketball next season, was a force behind the Vikings' rally, scoring 15 points in the first half.

That helped Mount Pleasant (10-13) pull even at 28 at halftime.

"We were happy," said Mount Pleasant coach Tom Traynor. "Our kids battled. We had trouble with the press early. Normally, we don't have trouble with the press."

Mars launched its own rally in the second half.

The Planets fell behind by four points, but took a lead by the end of the third period and led most of the fourth quarter until the Vikings pulled ahead by a point with 40 seconds remaining.

Then it looked as if Vinny Smith was going to emerge a hero.

The Mars junior sank two clutch free throws with 5.5 seconds left.

During a timeout after Smith's second foul shot, Carmody told his players not to let anyone behind them.

They did.

Jones got the ball on the wing and forced up a desperation 3-pointer that missed everything.

But Welc crept behind the Mars defense, caught the errant shot and banked it off the glass while falling away to give the Vikings their first playoff win in school history.

"We were very clear with where we wanted our guys defensively, and they didn't get there," Carmody said. "For some reason, we had three guys on the wrong side of halfcourt. In a situation like that ... the last thing we said was protect the basket and we leave their best guy standing alone underneath the basket."

The Planets had to deal with the finality of their season Monday, only to find out Wednesday their season rolled on.

Now, Mars must again go through the process of coming to grips with the end of a year.

"I can't fault our effort, Carmody said. "I can't fault our guys for having to come back after shutting it down mentally for a day and then revving it back up. I'm proud of our guys."

MOUNT PLEASANT 51Chet Welc 9-15 3-7 21, Ethan Keeler 4-12 3-4 11, Brandon Bunting 2-5 0-0 4, Brad Fullman 1-1 2-2 4, Luke D'Amico 1-1 0-0 2, Matt Lesko 2-3 0-1 5, Jordon Jones 2-6 0-0 4.

Totals: 21-43 8-14 51

MARS 50Chris Herold 2-8 1-2 5, Ben Szilogy 0-0 0-0 0, Christian Locher 0-0 0-0 0, Alec Mahon 0-0 0-0 0, Dave Petruska 2-3 0-0 6, Vinny Smith 2-6 4-4 8, Dante DeTillio 4-7 1-3 9, Steve Cress 9-15 3-5 22.

Totals: 19-39 9-14 50

Mt. Pleasant 10 18 14 9—51Mars 24 4 17 5—503-point goals: Lesko; Petruska 2, Cress