Mars scorches West Allegheny
ADAMS TWP — West Allegheny's hopes of remaining unbeaten in section play were scorched Wednesday night — along with the nets at Mars High's gymnasium.
The Planets made 21 of their first 27 attempts from the field and drained 11 three-pointers in a 100-57 runaway over the Indians.
Robby Carmody led a quartet of Planets who reached double figures in points with 26. Andrew Recchia added 22, Cade Hetzler 16 and Michael Carmody dropped 12 points.
It had been at least 30 years since Mars reached 100 points in a game.
It was the first game in 12 days for the Planets (6-2, 2-0), but there was no rust to knock off. Five Mars players had made a field goal just over four minutes into the game. The Planets built a 29-13 lead by the end of the first quarter on 12-of-16 shooting.
“When we're rolling, there's no ceiling for us,” said Hetzler, a senior guard for the Planets.
“What I was excited to see was having four guys in double figures,” said Planet coach Rob Carmody. “And we left some points out there. We missed several good looks and missed some cuts. We could have had four guys with at least 20 points.”
Three Planets — Hetzler, Recchia and Robby Carmody — all had at least 10 points by halftime, at which point Mars led 52-29.
“We are a third into the season. It's time for us to look at what we need to do to improve and look at what other teams may try to do against us,” said Coach Carmody. “(West Allegheny) played a box-and-1 on Robby tonight. Last year, that may have bothered us, but we have so many scoring options now. Every day in practice, we have shooting drills and not once this season have we not met our goal. We just have guys who make shots.”
Hetzler hit four 3-pointers in the game and now has 11 in his last two games. He made four treys all of last season.
“I talked to (the graduated) Ben Lewis,” said Hetzler. “Two years ago, he was on the junior varsity team and ended up setting the school record for 3-pointers in a single season last year with 84. He told me, 'This is your senior season. Let it fly.'
“I put up a lot of shots in the offseason.”
“Cade is the best 1-on-1 defender I've ever coached,” said Coach Carmody, “but he's also versatile. He does so many things for us. He'll take a charge, hit a 3-pointer, handle the ball. He's like our Swiss Army knife.”
Roman Vetour scored 17 points to lead West Allegheny (4-5, 2-1).
Mars will remain in section play Friday when it travels to Montour.
WEST ALLEGHENY 57
Tre Jones 1 0-1 2, Dre Baldwin 1 4-6 6, Grant Nicholson 1 0-0 3, Jackson Faulk 4 1-2 12, Isaiah Crowe 6 1-2 13, Kam Kruze 1 2-2 4, Roman Vetour 7 2-3 17, Jared Konep 0 0-0 0, Connor Cesnik 0 0-0 0, Zach Logan 0 0-0 0, Paul Newton 0 0-0 0. Totals: 21 10-16 57.
MARS 100
Hunter Fetsko 1 0-0 2, Cade Hetzler 6 0-0 16, Michael Carmody 4 4-4 12, Andrew Recchia 9 2-3 22, Connor Amsler 2 0-0 6, Joe Craska 1 0-0 2, Luke Morrissey 2 2-2 6, Brandon Caruso 3 0-0 8, Robby Carmody 7 11-13 26, Joe Schneider 0 0-0 0, Raymond Kahn 0 0-0 0. Totals: 35 19-22 100.
West Allegheny 13 16 15 13 — 57
Mars29 23 25 23 — 100
3-point goals: West Allegheny 5 (Faulk 3, Vetour, Nicholson); Mars 11 (Hetzler 4, Recchia 2, Amsler 2, Caruso 2, R. Carmody).
Friday: Mars at Montour
