PITTSBURGH — No final decision will be made on the PIAA Boys Basketball Tournament eligibility of Mars senior Michael Carmody until Thursday morning.

The Carmody family — including Mars boys basketball coach Rob Carmody, Michael's father — appealed WPIAL disciplinary action against Michael during a hearing before the district's board of directors Wednesday afternoon.

“We will be informed of the final decision at 10 a.m. Thursday,” Coach Carmody said. “I thought the hearing went well, but I have no idea which way this is going to go.”

Michael Carmody was called for an intentional foul in the third quarter of Friday night's WPIAL 5A championship game. He also questioned an official on the court and kicked a basketball when no foul was called on the game-ending play of the Planets' 52-51 loss to Laurel Highlands.

A letter containing undisclosed disciplinary action was sent from the WPIAL to Mars Area High School Monday.

“The contents of the letter are confidential,” WPIAL Associate Director Amy Scheuneman said Tuesday. “They requested a hearing in front of our board and it was granted.”

“Michael stood up before the board and apologized,” his father said. “My wife and I are proud of the way he handled himself today. He is a positive, competitive athlete. The board needed to see the kind of kid he is off the basketball court and the football field. They saw that today.”

Scheuneman said Wednesday that Mars was verbally informed of the board's decision after the hearing and that a formal letter detailing that information would be sent to the school Thursday.

Through 99 high school basketball games, Carmody fouled out seven times and has been called for two technical fouls. He averages 2.8 personal fouls per game. In 33 varsity football games, he was never called for a personal foul or a late hit.

His father added that Carmody “mentors an autistic child, is pen pals with an inner-city kid ... People don't know things like that about him because he doesn't put it out there.

“We're talking about an 18-year-old kid who walked into a room full of adults today who are probably thinking he's some kind of jerk. He handled himself extremely well. I couldn't be more proud.”

Mars (19-6) is playing Elizabethtown (19-9) in the first round of the state tournament at 6 p.m. Friday at Valley High School.

The 6-foot-7, 290-pound Carmody is averaging 19 points and 19.5 rebounds per game this season. MaxPreps has him listed as the leading rebounder in the country among high school basketball players.

He is also a 4.0 student who plans to major in engineering at Notre Dame, where he is receiving a full scholarship as an offensive lineman.

“We had to stop at the principal's office before leaving for the hearing,” Coach Carmody said. “That was the first time in four years of high school Mike's even been to the principal's office.

“He didn't even know where it was.”

The Planets have played three games without Carmody this season — two because of all-star football one because of injury — and lost them all.

“But we got better with each game,” the coach said. “We have a lot of good players on this team. We'll do what we can to get to Tuesday regardless of the circumstances.

“If Michael can't play, he'll be there to support us. He's gone after this season anyway. We have other kids. That's why it's a program.

“The other kids are hurting for Mike. They know how much work he puts into this,” Carmody added.

He said the family is handling the process well.

“We'll await the decision and move forward from there,” Coach Carmody said. “In the meantime, we're out to dinner and going bowling, enjoying time as a family (Wednesday night). We're not going to let this weigh over us.

“God doesn't give you more than you can handle. We're handling this as a family.”

The coach said tweets on social media about the situation have been disappointing, but not surprising.

“People gravitate to the negative and not the positive,” he said. “Laurel Highlands won its first WPIAL (boys basketball) championship since 1968. That should be the focus. This takes away from that and I feel badly about that.

“For a four-second period on a basketball court, Michael made some bad decisions. He regrets it. He'll deal with it. He's learned from it, I've learned from it. He'll become a better person after all of this and to me, that's a positive.”