Fast start pays
ADAMS TWP — The effort from the Slippery Rock boys basketball team just wasn't there in the first quarter.
And the Rockets paid dearly for it.
Slippery Rock watched Mars shoot 10-of-13 from the field for 77 percent in the first quarter for a 25-9 advantage after eight minutes.
The Planets kept the Rockets at bay for the remainder of the game in a 64-51 win in the first round of the Mars Christmas Tournament on Wednesday.
"We had no effort at the start of the game," said Rockets coach Sean Strickland. "We've got some talented kids, but they don't always give their best effort and we saw that tonight."
Mars will face Northgate, a 66-57 winner over Our Lady of the Sacred Heart, in the boys championship game at 6 p.m. today
The Planets' victory made it a clean sweep for Mars, as the girls team crushed Sto-Rox, 34-16. The Planets will face Seneca Valley, a 60-54 victor over Slippery Rock, in the girls championship at 7:30.
Mars' win in the boys game was jump-started by the team's frontcourt.
Sophomore forward Vinny Smith led all scorers with 17 points, including seven in the opening period.
Junior forward Steve Cress tallied six points in the first quarter and ended the game with 16 for the Planets.
"Our game plan is pretty simple," said Mars coach Rob Carmody. "We need to make our layups, get rebounds, shoot free throws and play defense."
The Planets (3-7) did all four of those very well in the first quarter.
Along with making 10 field goals in the period, the team hit all three of its free throws and outrebounded the Rockets 8-1.
Mars cooled off on the offensive end in the second quarter, but the Rockets (3-6) could outscore the hosts by only 8-7 and trailed 32-17 at intermission.
Slippery Rock senior guard Rhett Gordon scored 10 of his 13 points in the second half to keep things interesting.
His 3-pointer with 4:12 left in the third period brought Slippery Rock to within 34-28.
But Mars, which had made just 6-of-14 free throws entering the final quarter, drained 8 of 10 attempts in the final eight minutes to ice the victory.
Smith's 17 points were a season high. He has now scored at least 12 points in three straight games and is averaging 12.6 over the last eight games.
"Vinny has played in a lot of games, but he's still just a sophomore," said Carmody. "I'd love to see him keep this up. I know he has the ability to do it."
"Our plan was to play (Smith and Cress) man-to-man all over the floor, then double down on Cress when he got the ball," said Strickland. "I thought we did well against Cress, but Smith proved to be the difference. I wasn't expecting him to have that kind of game."
Kendall Mahan led Slippery Rock with 14 points.
Mars 34, Sto-Rox 16 —<B> With a modest 19-15 lead after three quarters, the Planets dominated the final period by outscoring the Vikings 15-1 to win the game going away.Sophomore Lily Grenci scored eight of her game-high 14 points in the fourth quarter, while Sto-Rox (7-3) missed all eight of its field goal attempts in the period."We weren't happy with our defense following the Indiana game (a 73-71 loss)," said Mars coach Dave Sylvester. "We spent a lot of time working on it in practice."The Vikings shot 5-of-31 (16 percent) from the field, but were tied with the Planets at 15 late in the third quarter.Karly Takach sparked Mars (8-1) by scoring two buckets late in the period for the four-point lead.A Vanessa Pappas 3-pointer in the first minute of the fourth quarter, followed by a jumper from teammate Cara Hudac, and the Planets were on their way to clinching a spot in tonight's championship game against Seneca Valley.</B>Seneca Valley 60, Slippery Rock 54 — Kelsey Spencer had four 3-pointers and AlyEagle added three more for the Raiders in the win over the Rockets.Spencer and Eagle each finished with 16 points for the Raiders (7-3).Jence Rhoads led all scorers with 23 points for SlipperyRock (6-4). Her sister, freshman Kourtney Rhoads, also got in on the 3-point frenzy, hitting four of them, and scored 16 points.Jence Rhoads also had seven assists for the Rockets.<B>SLIPPERY ROCK 51Rhett Gordon 5 2-3 13, Nick Cress 1 0-0 2, Kendall Mahan 5 0-2 14, Derrick Orloski 2 0-0 4, Brian Kelly 1 0-0 2, Zack Ejzak 3 3-5 9, Matt Shearer 1 5-10 7, Ethan Geisler 0 0-0 0, Sean Schrieber 0 0-0 0.</B> Totals: 18 10-20 51.<B>MARS 64Chris Herold 3 7-8 13, Dan Colbert 1 3-4 6, Dave Petruska 1 2-2 5, D.J. Cannon 2 1-2 5, Vinny Smith 8 1-3 17, Ryan Nearhoof 1 0-0 2, Steve Cress 8 0-5 16, Chris Cassidy 0 0-0 0, Ryan Schroth 0 0-0 0, Ben Szilogy 0 0-0 0.</B> Totals: 24 14-24 64.<B>Slippery Rock 9 8 21 13—51Mars 25 7 16 16—643-point goals:</B> Slippery Rock 5 (Mahan 4, Gordon); Mars 2 (Colbert, Petruska)<B>Today: </B>Slippery Rock vs. OLSH, Consolation Game at 3 p.m.; Mars vs. Northgate, Championship Game at 6 p.m.<B>STO-ROX 16Jessica Buranovsky 2 1-2 6, Kerry Connolly 1 1-2 3, Daryl Ford 1 3-4 5, Sytina Davis 1 0-0 2, Nicole Thornhill 0 0-2 0, Jackie Movitch 0 0-0 0, Tynesha Lee 0 0-0 0, Ashley Crump 0 0-0 0.</B> Totals: 5 5-10 16.<B>MARS 34Cara Hudac 1 0-0 2, Vanessa Pappas 1 0-0 3, Haley Geyer 3 0-0 7, Karly Takach 3 0-0 6, Lily Grenci 7 0-1 14, Maggie Bulman 1 0-0 2, Megan Gibson 0 0-0 0.</B> Totals: 16 0-1 34.<B>Sto-Rox 3 8 4 1—16Mars 6 7 6 15—343-point goals:</B> Sto-Rox (Buranovsky); Mars 2 (Pappas, Geyer)<B>Today: </B>Sto-Rox vs. Slippery Rock, Consolation Game at 4:30 p.m.; Mars vs. Seneca Valley, Championship Game at 7:30 p.m.<B>SLIPPERY ROCK 54Karly Rhoads 1 0-0 2, Jenna Rinker 1 2-3 4, Shanea Raabe 1 0-2 2, Jence Rhoads 9 7-8 23, Danielle Drake 0 0-0 0, Emma Walter 3 0-1 6, Kourtney Rhoads 6 0-0 16, Sarah Cessar 0 1-4 1, Adele Campbell 0 0-0 0.</B> Totals: 20 10-18 54<B>SENECA VALLEY 60AlyEagle 3 7-8 16, Kelsey Spencer 5 2-3 16, Kelsey Patsilevas 0 1-2 1, Amanda Johnson 4 2-6 10, Jackie Mangola 1 8-8 10, Catherine Messmer 3 1-2 7.</B> Totals: 16 21-29 60<B>Slippery Rock 15 6 16 17—54Seneca Valley 12 15 12 21—603-point goals:</B> Kourtney Rhoads 4, Eagle 3, Spencer 4<B>Today: </B>Sto-Rox vs. Slippery Rock, 4:30 p.m.; Mars vs. Seneca Valley, 7:30 p.m.
