Carly Clark of Mars looks to make a pass Wednesday in the Planets' 43-42 home loss to Montour.

ADAMS TWP — Close, but no cigar.

The Mars boys and girls basketball teams both gave Montour a run for its money Wednesday night, but the Planets came up short in both contests by scores of 59-52 and 43-42, respectively.

In the girls game, the Planets led for most of the first half before the Spartans took a 37-34 lead into the final period.

Trailing 43-38 with 16 seconds remaining, Lizz Tumminello's 3-pointer pulled Mars to within two points.

Montour's Marina Scarantino missed the front end of a one-and-one and the Planets controlled the rebound.

Mars senior guard Alexa Lee brought the ball the length of the floor, drove to the basket and was fouled with three-tenths of a second left on the clock.

The senior guard made the first free throw, but the second bounced off the rim as the Spartans celebrated the one-point win.

“I've been in that position before and it's tough,” Mars coach Tony Howard said about Lee. “There were three or four times in the game where I could have saved us six to eight points if I would have called a different defense.

“It's a shame everybody is going to focus on those free throws at the end.”

The fact is Montour (4-0) won because it was the better team in the second half.

The Spartans trailed 19-9 after one quarter and 30-25 at halftime. But they made six of their 11 attempts from the field in the third quarter and held the Planets to 4-of-17 shooting in the final two periods.

“I liked this early test for our team,” said Montour coach Jack Burik. “It prepares you for what's to come.”

Despite the loss, Howard saw good things from his team in the first two periods.

“We were making the extra pass and setting good screens,” he said.

The Planets (1-3) received 13 points from Carly Clark and 10 apiece from Lee and Kelsey Pelles.

Clark's total included a trio of 3-pointers.

Megan Mastroianni led Montour with 10 points.

As was the case in the girls game, Mars held a second-half advantage.Leading 40-39 with one quarter to play, the Spartans outscored the Planets 9-1 in the 3Z\x minutes of the final period.Devin Wilson's basket gave Montour a 55-47 lead with under a minute to play before Mars turned the ball over on the ensuing possession to end its chances.“We had the momentum entering the fourth quarter, but we just became stagnant,” said Mars coach Rob Carmody. “Our inexperience showed. I counted three times in the final quarter when we were unable to get a rebound and they ended up scoring because of it.”Though Montour (1-2) held a 28-25 lead at halftime, Spartans coach Adam Kaufman said his team's best play came in the final period, when his squad made 7-of-10 field goal attempts.“We aren't in basketball shape yet,” he admitted. “A lot of our guys were part of a long football season and, so far, we've played well in spurts.“Going into the fourth quarter, we challenged our guys,” Kaufman added. “They went out and made the plays.”Wilson led all scorers with 21 points, prompting Carmody to say, “I don't know if we'll see a better athlete all year.”Christian Locher paced the Planets (2-1) with 18 points and Mitch Buzard had 15.<B>Girls BoxscoreMONTOUR 43</B>Marina Scarantino 2 0-1 4, Megan Mastroianni 5 0-1 10, Alena Esposito 3 3-6 9, Codi Lee Dugan 4 0-1 8, Bri Peckich 1 0-2 2, Sydney Angelo 3 0-0 6, Sophia Esposito 1 2-4 4. Marisa Gerst 0 0-0 0. <B>Totals:</B> 19 5-15 43.<B>MARS 42</B>Alexa Lee 4 1-2 10, Carly Clark 4 2-3 13, Kelsey Pelles 2 6-6 10, Lizz Tumminello 2 2-4 7, Randi Francis 0 2-2 2, Meghan Kelly 0 0-0 0, Brinsley Evanson 0 0-0 0, Teresa Dallatore 0 0-0 0, Alyssa Mathews 0 0-0 0. <B>Totals:</B> 12 13-17 42.<B>Montour 9 16 12 6—43Mars 19 11 4 8—423-point goals:</B> Montour 0; Mars 5 (Clark 3, Tumminello, Lee).<B>Monday:</B> Mars at Elizabeth-Forward<B>Boys BoxscoreMONTOUR 59</B>Devin Wilson 9 3-6 21, Aaron McGee 3 0-0 8, Jimmy Sciulli 3 0-0 8, Dillon Buechel 5 2-3 12, Tyler Haas 3 1-2 8, Ryan Socol 1 0-0 2, Kevin Sciulli 0 0-0 0. <B>Totals:</B> 24 6-11 59.<B>MARS 52</B>Christian Locher 4 8-11 18, Brad Weischedel 3 2-2 8, Garrett Ashbaugh 0 2-3 2, Mitch Buzard 6 1-1 15, Ben Erdahl 2 0-0 4, Owen Nearhoof 1 2-2 5, Josh Goetz 0 0-0 0, Jake Lee 0 0-0 0, Brandon Eckstein 0 0-0 0. <B>Totals:</B> 16 15-19 52.<B>Montour 15 13 11 20—59Mars 12 13 15 12—523-point goals:</B> Montour 5 (McGee 2, J. Sciulli 2, Haas); Mars 5 (Locher 2, Buzard 2, Nearhoof).<B>Friday:</B> Valley at Mars

Brad Weischedel of Mars tries to get the ball past Montour's Aaron Reed Wednesday in the Planets' 59-52 loss to the Spartans.