Mars beats up Thomas Jefferson in 5A playoff opener
ADAMS TWP — It was the type of quarter Mars boys basketball coach Rob Carmody could have done without.
Only six points, a 2-of-13 shooting effort from the field and five turnovers — from a team that averages just six per game — marred the Planets’ third period in Monday’s WPIAL Class 5A boys first-round playoff game against Thomas Jefferson.
“In my 28 years of coaching high school basketball, that may have been the worst quarter of execution on offense I’ve seen from one of my teams,” Carmody said. “We were totally disconnected and didn’t seem to have a sense of urgency.
“If it was a younger team, I would have called a timeout and coached ‘em through it, but we had four seniors and a junior on the floor. They played through it.”
The good news for Mars was it never came close to surrendering the 16-point lead it carried into the second half and the Planets responded to their lackluster effort with a 30-point fourth quarter in dispatching the Jaguars, 71-48.
Mars will host Gateway, a winner over West Allegheny, in a quarterfinal Thursday.
With the Planets struggling, TJ (8-15) had a golden opportunity to close in, but the closest the Jaguars got was 38-27 when Ryan Lawry drained a 3-pointer with 1:25 left in the third.
“That was the good thing that came out of that quarter...We continued to play really good defense,” Carmody said.
Trailing 41-29 after three quarters, TJ’s chances became even more slim when sophomore guard Evan Berger fouled out with 26 seconds gone in the fourth.
“He’s our leading scorer, averages about 20 points per game,” said TJ coach Dom DeCicco. “That really hurt us. We were also just 3 of 17 from 3-point range. That was the difference in the game.”
The Planets closed the door on TJ’s season by making 14 of 16 attempts from the free throw line in the final eight minutes, including Zach Schlegel’s 8-of-8 effort.
Schlegel led all scorers with 19 points, including three treys that helped the Planets build a 35-19 lead by halftime.
Tasso Sfanos scored 13 for Mars (21-2) and Chris Dvorak tallied a double-double of 12 points and 16 rebounds. Austin Campbell came off the bench to score 10 points.
TJ started three sophomores and one of them, Sean Sullivan, paced the Jaguars with 15 points.
“Our skill level was just a bit better than their’s tonight,” Carmody said, “but Coach DeCicco does a great job and they’re going to be really good the next couple of years.”
THOMAS JEFFERSON 48
Ryan Lawry 2 0-0 5, Evan Berger 2 4-4 8, Joe Lekse 2 1-2 6, Sean Sullivan 7 1-2 15, Noah Prosser 3 0-0 7, Elias Lippincott 3 0-0 6, Kameron Eggerton 0 1-2 1, Adam Weidmann 0 0-1 0. Totals: 19 7-10 48.
MARS 71
Zach Schlegel 4 8-10 19, Austin Cote 2 1-4 5, Chris Dvorak 6 0-0 12, Tasso Sfanos 5 3-4 13, Ryan Ceh 1 0-0 2, Bryce Cunningham 2 0-0 5, Austin Campbell 2 4-4 10, Devin Koch 2 0-0 5. Totals: 24 16-22 71.
Thomas Jefferson 8 11 10 19 - 48
Mars 16 19 6 30 - 71
3-point goals: Thomas Jefferson 3 (Lawry, Lekse, Prosser); Mars 7 (Schlegel 3, Campbell 2, Cunningham, Koch).
Thursday: Gateway at Mars, WPIAL Class 5A quarterfinal, time TBD
