Mars guts out 69-66 OT victory
AMBRIDGE — Robby Carmody had a broken thumb and a bloody scratch across his face and eye.
He was hurting.
He played anyway.
And the Mars freshman forward hurt Beaver Falls in kind.
His two clutch free throws tied the score at 60-60 and sent the game into overtime where the Planets went on a 9-0 run to topple the Tigers in the second round of the PIAA Class AAA boys basketball playoffs, 69-66, Tuesday night at Ambridge High School.
“Robby has a broken thumb and his cornea is probably scratched pretty good and he didn't have a contact (lense) in. He was just struggling,” said Rob Carmody, Mars basketball coach and Robby's father. “I challenged him at halftime. I said, 'Listen. I know you're hurting. You can tell me you're done and I'll be OK with that, or you can go out there and fight for your team.'
“He fought for his team,” Rob Carmody added.
Mars (26-2) had to fight through quite a bit.
The Planets fell behind 9-0 at the start and trailed 14-4 midway through the opening quarter.
But Mars wasn't detoured by the slow start.
Coach Carmody said he thought about calling an early timeout, but refrained.
“I thought, 'If I do that, they are going to panic. They are going to think something is wrong,'” the coach said. “We were either going to fight through it or get our butts kicked. We fought through it.”
John Castello was a big reason why Mars was able to buck up and battle.
He took over the game after the Planets fell behind and scored 11 points to go with eight rebounds in the first quarter as Mars closed the gap to 21-18.Castello had 16 points at the half, helping to stake Mars to a 31-30 lead and had a big three-point play late in overtime to give his team the lead for good at 67-64.Castello finished with 29 points and 19 rebounds in the win.“You play in a game like this and you get 29 points and 19 rebounds — I can't say enough about him,” Coach Carmody said. “There's not a superlative I can give. I am just so thrilled John Castello plays for Mars.”Castello is pretty stoked to be a Planet as well.“We have a great team and it's not just one player, it's the whole team,” Castello said. “No one cares who scores. No one cares who rebounds. As long as we get the job done, we're happy. We don't care.”Castello proved that by shrugging off and downplaying his big scoring and rebounding night.“I don't care,” he said. “If I wouldn't have scored and we would have won, that's all I care about. Even if I didn't play and we won, I would have been happy. (The point and rebounds) wouldn't have meant anything if we didn't get the W.”Mars will play District 10 champion Cathedral Prep Friday at a site and time to be determined in the state quarterfinals.Donovan Jeter led Beaver Falls with 26 points.Alex Gruber and Robby Carmody each added 11 for the Planets.The Tigers (25-4) played much of the game without star forward Josh Creach, who picked up two early fouls in the first quarter and his third just 35 seconds into the second half.His fourth and fifth came in quick succession late in the fourth quarter.Beaver Falls coach Doug Biega was unavailable for comment.Castello said the loss the Planets suffered in the WPIAL playoffs galvanized the team — as did the tough road they had to travel to get back into the state playoffs.“We were very disappointed,” Castello said. “We were happy with what we did, but obviously, we wanted to go all the way. We rallied and said, hey, we got to saddle up and battle the whole way pretty much and that's what we did. It got us ready for this.”MARS 69Alex Gruber 4-6 3-3 11, John Castello 11-19 7-8 29, Ryan Giallonardo 0-2 0-0 0, Christian Schmitt 3-10 2-4 8, Robby Carmody 3-5 4-4 11, Aaron Gruber 1-2 0-0 2, Nate Sablowski 1-4 0-0 2, Mitch Verplank 0-1 0-1 0, Bailey Trzeciak 2-3 0-0 6. Totals: 25-52 16-20 69.BEAVER FALLS 66Javon Turner 6-17 0-0 12, Zach Duffy 2-4 0-0 6, Donovan Jeter 10-22 6-6 26, Josh Creach 3-7 1-2 7, Torian Leak 3-4 0-2 7, Malik Shephard 2-4 0-1 4, Kenyon Gibson 2-9 0-0 4, Syron Noyes 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 28-67 7-11 66.Mars 18 13 9 20 9 — 69Beaver Falls21 9 14 16 4 — 663-point goals: Mars 3 (Carmody, Trzeciak 2); Beaver Falls 3 (Duffy 2, Leak)Friday: Mars vs. Cathedral Prep in PIAA Class AAA semifinals at a site and time to be determined.
