Mars races past Bethel Park in playoff opener
ROSS TWP — Having lost four of their last six regular season tilts, Mars’ WPIAL Class 5A playoff path won’t be as smooth as it otherwise could have been.
If they can replicate starts like the one they had Friday night against No. 10 Bethel Park, that won’t be much of problem.
With a trademark performance from senior anchor Tasso Sfanos and an 18-point, 12-rebound double-double from towering junior foward Ryan Ceh, the Planets ran away with a 76-40 opening-round boys hoops win at North Hills Middle School.
“The end of the season was tough,” Mars coach Rob Carmody said. “We have a terrific league, obviously ... If we could’ve taken back five minutes through the season, we could’ve been 19-3.”
The Planets (15-8) left that all in the rear-view, knocking down each of their initial four tries from beyond the arc — in the contest’s first three minutes — and building a 14-point cushion by the time the horn sounded on the first frame.
“I think we definitely had a sour taste in our mouth, not getting the best seeding or whatever, but I think we noticed that we had to forget about that,” said Sfanos, who bucketed 12 of his 26 points in that quarter. “It’s a new season now.”
The recent defeats — two of which were rare section losses at home — clearly didn’t discourage Mars, which shot 13-of-25 from the floor in the first half.
“All the games we played were all close,” Ceh said. “We look at it like we had leads in all of them, so just polishing, kind of finishing games ... We were able to come in and just know that we were prepared for it.”
With Sfanos and Ceh on top of their game and getting contributions from guys like Deven Koch and Ian Zukowski, the Black Hawks’ defensive objective went out the window.
“Our goal was to contest and challenge the threes and make them make tough twos, but that obviously didn’t materialize,” Black Hawks coach Dante Calabria said. “Our game plan was to stay within arm’s length and make them go by you, make them shoot twos ... They’re well-balanced. They’ve got their leader and the rest of them know their roles.”
“When you’re able to hit them outside, then that opens up the inside and everything just kind of gets flowing,” Ceh said. “You get it moving, you get the shots falling, you can penetrate to kick out and you know everything’s going to work.”
He played a big part in sending the defense into a tizzy. He sank a pair of first-half treys and multiple turnaround jumpers in the low post, along with giving Bethel Park (13-9) headaches with his length on the other end, stuffing four shots.
“We need Ryan to play with that edge, because he’s unique,” Carmody said. “He can shoot it, he can shoot over people, he can jump, he can block shots ... Any time he plays like that, it just makes us a better team — because you know what you’re going to get from Tasso.”
“We don’t have guys like that, we didn’t play against guys like that,” Calabria said. “He’s long, so those little quick ones that you’re usually getting off, he’s getting pieces of or blocking.”
Sophomore Drew Navetta came off the bench and added another three treys for the Planets. Benjamin Guffey led the Black Hawks with 14 points on the night.
As for momentum — or lack of it — not mattering, that goes both ways, Carmody said. His side will treat each game going forward as its own entity.
“It’s definitely going to be a new game, a new day, and we’ve got to pick it up right where we left off,” Sfanos said.
BETHEL PARK 40
Benjamin Guffey 6 0-0 14, Nick Brown 6 0-0 12, Michael Mathias 2 0-0 6, Shawn Davis 1 1-3 3, Benjamin Lentz 1 0-0 3, Jack Bruckner 1 0-0 2. Totals: 17 1-3 40.
MARS 76
Tasso Sfanos 10 3-4 26, Ryan Ceh 7 2-2 18, Drew Navetta 3 0-0 9, Deven Koch 2 0-0 6, Ian Zukowski 2 2-2 6, Remi 2 0-0 4, Austin Campbell 1 0-0 3, Andrew Cashdollar 1 0-0 3, Brady Jordan 0 1-2 1. Totals: 28 8-10 76.
Bethel Park 9 16 5 5 — 40
Mars 23 17 19 17 — 76
3-point goals: Mars 12 (Sfanos 3, Navetta 3, Koch 2, Ceh 2, Campbell, Cashdollar); Bethel Park 5 (Guffey 2, Mathias 2, Lentz)
