ADAMS TWP — Valley was pushed to the limit Tuesday night on both the scoreboard and the floor.

The Vikings escaped on both counts, securing a 71-66 Section 1-AAA boys basketball victory over Mars and finishing the game with five eligible players.

Valley led by 16 at halftime before the Planets cut the deficit to eight on a Luke Gruber 3-pointer with 4:09 left in the third quarter. With 3:32 remaining in the period, the game was delayed for several minutes.

After players from both teams dove for a loose ball in front of the Valley bench, pushing and shoving occurred as they remained on the floor. The entire Viking bench joined the brief skirmish before order was restored. There were no injuries and no technical fouls were awarded.

Valley's entire bench was ejected from the game, however. Mars' Ian Hindley was ejected as well.

"It's a shame the way this game had to go down,"Vikings coach Vern Benson said. "But, sometimes, things happen.

"I don't like to criticize officials, but I thought stuff was let go earlier in the game when they should have blown their whistles. The intensity built from there. Kids are competitive. Kids want to win."

Two players who were in Valley's scorebook, but not seated on the bench, junior Andrew Kanaan and freshman Dom Lyons, were not ejected. Neither is part of the Vikings' regular varsity rotation.

"I can't even tell you why they weren't on the bench at the time, but I'm glad they weren't,"Benson said. "That wound up working out for us."

Starters Troy Hill and Brian Rayburg fouled out in the fourth quarter, forcing Kanaan and Lyons into the game.

"This was not a reflection of Mars kids or Valley kids,"Mars coach Rob Carmody said. "Kids can be kids. They're out there getting after it and this one got out of hand. Coaches teach based on situations like this.

"Toughness is boxing out or diving after a loose basketball. It's not about piling on. Anybody can do that."

Three adult fans were ejected from the gym before the night settled into a basketball game again.

Valley (7-4, 3-1) seemingly had the win in hand when Geoff Fuguay sank both ends of a one-and-one with 2:26 left, giving the Vikings a 64-51 lead.

But the Planets (6-4, 2-3) were far from finished.

Brad Weischedel hit two free throws and a layup, and Vinny Smith completed a three-point play with 1:14 left, before hitting the first of two free throws with 56.5 seconds to play.

Smith missed the second foul shot, but Gruber rebounded and Chris Herold knocked down a 3-pointer to trim the Valley lead to 67-62 with 45.7 seconds left.

Fuguay sank one of two free throws for Valley, but Smith answered with a layup and it was a 68-64 game with 32.2 seconds to go.

"Our kids could have quit at halftime, but they kept fighting to get back in the game,"Carmody said. "With 30 seconds left, we had them reeling."

The Planets fouled Lyons immediately and the seldom-used freshman missed both free throws. Tyreese Collins, a 6-foot-4 senior, grabbed the offensive rebound and Valley maintained possession.

Kanaan sank two free throws with 23 seconds left, Denzel Carter added one with 18 seconds remaining and the Vikings held on.

Valley had a 49-31 edge in rebounding. Hill, a 6-5 seniorwho missed the Vikings' last two games — both losses — with an injury, scored 20 points and grabbed 13 boards before fouling out. Collins had 10 points and 15 boards.

Christian Locher scored 18 points for Mars, hitting four treys. Smith had 15 points and nine rebounds.

The Planets missed 15 free throws, including the front end of two one and ones.

VALLEY 71Anthony DiCarolis 0-1 0-0 0, Brad Marzullo 0-0 0-0 0, Geoff Fuquay 6-12 4-5 17, Troy Hill 9-16 2-3 20, Brian Rayburg 1-8 0-0 2, Tyreese Collins 5-11 0-0 10, John Marshall 2-2 1-2 5, Denzel Carter 5-13 2-4 13, Andrew Kanaan 0-0 2-2 2, Dom Lyons 1-1 0-3 2. Totals: 29-64 11-18 71

MARS 66Chris Herold 1-4 1-3 4, Christian Locher 6-20 2-4 18, Luke Gruber 2-2 0-5 4, Dante DiTillio 2-4 0-0 4, Vinny Smith 5-9 5-7 15, Alec Mahon 1-2 0-1 2, Brad Weischedel 4-7 5-6 14, Ian Hindley 1-2 1-3 4. Totals:22-51 14-29 66

Valley 20 21 14 16—71Mars 10 15 17 24—663-point goals: Fuguay, Carter; Herold, Locher 4, Gruber, Weischedel, Hindley

JV: Mars, 46-36 (M:Ian Hindley 24, Tim Vandall 7; V:Phil Green 7, Dante DiCarolis 7)

Wednesday: Mars at St. Joseph's