PINE TWP — As Chris Herold's 50-foot shot arched toward the hoop, Mars boys basketball coach RobCarmody sprang to his feet with his arms raised wide.

"It was down," Carmody said. "I really thought it was down."

But it wasn't. The basketball rattled in and then was spit out at the end of regulation with the score deadlocked at 53.

The shot thrown up by Herold nearly concluded an improbable comeback victory.

But it didn't.

Instead, Brian Felker hit his shot from the corner at the end of overtime for Pine-Richland to give the Rams a 63-60 win over the Planets Monday night.

Despite the loss, Carmody was all smiles after the game.

"You know what, this is 13 years of coaching and years of playing," Carmody said. "I don't think I have been prouder of a group of guys in all that time."

Carmody's pride came after watching his team spot Pine-Richland an 11-0 lead midway through the first quarter and a 25-10 advantage with 6:36 remaining in the second quarter, only to charge back.

Mars (5-11) cut the lead to four points near the end of the half and took its first lead of the game with 5:20 left in the third quarter on a layup by D.J. Cannon.

That basket put a capper on a stretch in which the Planets outscored the Rams 25-9.

"Our guys overcame that start," Carmody said. "When it was 25-10, our guys could have hung their heads. But we kept chipping away, chipping away, chipping away."

Cannon hit several big shots to keep Mars in the game. He finished with 16 points.

So did Vinny Smith, who scored 10 of his 15 points in the second half and overtime.

That helped free up Steve Cress, who scored 20 points of his own.

His dunk off a steal with 1:55 left in the second quarter sparked Mars' furious rally.

Pine-Richland (10-6) built its early lead by using the power of the 3-pointer. The Rams cheerleaders should have chanted "shoot for three" instead of "shoot for two" in the first quarter as 15 of their 17 points came from beyond the arc.

But Pine-Richland quit shooting the 3 after that. Instead, the Rams worked the ball inside, and it didn't work nearly as well.

Unless it was Brett Matson who was doing the dirty work. Matson finished with 26 points.

His biggest play, though, came when he passed to Felker in the left corner for the game-winning shot instead of forcing an attempt himself.

"Brett really wants to be one of the better players in the area," said Pine-Richland coach Dave Krakoff. "That's a play Brett and I have talked about. If you want to be great, you not only have to make plays, but you have to make your team better. That was very unselfish of him."

Felker scored 18 points for the Rams, who had their coach letting out a huge sigh of relief.

"I have a lot of respect for Rob," Krakoff said. "The names change. The faces change, but they always play hard and are scrappy."

MARS 60Chris Herold 0-1 0-0 0, Dan Colbert 0-3 0-0 0, Dave Petruska 3-3 0-0 9, D.J. Cannon 6-10 1-2 16, Vinny Smith 6-14 3-4 15, Ryan Nearhoof 0-0 0-1 0, Steve Cress 7-17 5-6 20.

Totals: 22-48 9-13 60

PINE-RICHLAND 63Brendan Bove 0-5 3-4 3, Brian Felker 6-8 2-2 18, Eric Duerr 4-4 5-8 13, Nick Madia 1-6 0-0 3, Brett Matson 10-16 3-3 26, Ian Hennessy 0-1 0-0 0, T.J. Kuban 0-1 0-0 0.

Totals: 21-41 13-17 63

Mars 8 17 17 9 7—60Pine-Richland 17 15 11 10 10—633-point goals: Mars (Petruska 3, Cannon 3, Cress); Pine-Richland (Felker 4, Matson 3, Madia

Friday: Mars at Highlands