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Mars aces midterm test with 37-point win over No. 1 Chartiers Valley

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Saturday, January 14, 2023 | 12:30 AM

After a week of big tests in the classroom, the Mars boys basketball team passed another on the court Friday night.

Mars senior Tasso Sfanos scored a game-high 31 points and the Planets used their size advantage to rout No. 1 Chartiers Valley, 71-34, in a one-sided section win that had a running clock in the fourth quarter.

Afterward, their coach wondered, maybe the end of the school week provided some stress relief for kids that needed it.

“It sounds crazy, but Tuesday we just had no energy,” Mars coach Rob Carmody said. “They had midterms all week. Midterms ended today and it was like, ‘Woo! We’re out of school!’ We went out (on the court) and everything that could have gone right for us did.

“So many factors go into what’s going to happen in a game.”

No. 5 Mars (9-2, 3-1) sprinted to an 18-5 lead in the first quarter, led 36-20 at half and 55-30 after three quarters. This energy came three days after barely beating South Fayette in a one-point win Tuesday night.

“We wanted to make a statement that we’re one of the best in 5A. I think we did that,” said Sfanos, who made three of his four 3-pointers in the first half.

The section loss was the second this week for Chartiers Valley (12-2, 2-2), which missed 12 of its first 15 shots. The Colts are traditionally strong at finishing around the basket but struggled in the paint against Mars juniors Ryan Ceh (6-foot-5) and Remi Black (6-6).

Ceh scored 17 points, Black had 12 and they helped the Colts win the rebounding battle. Their defensive presence around the rim also led to missed shots for the Colts.

“You’ve got a 6-6 and a 6-5 guy in there, and they’re both long. It’s definitely going to affect you finishing at the rim,” Chartiers Valley coach Brandon Sensor said. “At the same time, I thought we did a good job of jump-stopping and finding open shooters. We just didn’t capitalize enough.”

Chartiers Valley went 8 for 29 shooting in the first half, including 3 for 17 from 3-point range. Standout scorer Jayden Davis, who was guarded often by Sfanos, was held scoreless into the third quarter and finished with six points.

Drew Sleva led the Colts with 14 points, including 12 in the first half.

“We just got outplayed,” Sensor said. “They opened up a lot of good shots for themselves and hit them. We struggled with that at times, getting good shots. We weren’t patient.”

Mars shot 42% in the first half (14 of 33) and out-rebounded Chartiers Valley by 11, a combination that gave the Planets a 16-point lead by halftime. Ceh and Black, the team’s two big men, said there was a higher energy level in the locker room before this game. Maybe there was something to their coach’s midterm theory, they said.

“There was definitely less stress,” Black said.

Ceh agreed.

“You don’t have to go home tonight and study for a semester test tomorrow,” he said, “so that’s nice.”

But both insisted they were more motivated by the chance to knock off a top-ranked team.

“With Chartiers Valley being the No. 1-ranked team in 5A, we wanted to beat them,” Black said. “We wanted to beat them bad.”

“Char Valley came into the week No. 1 in 5A and undefeated,” Ceh said. “You’re in front of the home crowd, playing on TV, that’s what you want. That’s what you dream of as a kid.”

Mars led by 25 points after three quarters and started the fourth with an 11-0 run that brought on the mercy rule’s running clock.

“Tonight was just our night,” Carmody said. “You’d love to figure out how to bottle this up and say, ‘How do we do this again?’ If we could do that, coaches wouldn’t go bald and lose their voices.”

Their section overall is proving to be competitive and a little unpredictable.

North Hills (10-2, 4-0) is the only team still unbeaten in the section, but that’s after surviving a one-point win Friday over South Fayette, just like Mars did earlier in the week.

“I think it’s exciting,” Sfanos said. “I love playing in tough games. I think it’s a good test for all of us. I think we can get the job done because we are one of those teams.”

Chris Harlan is a TribLive reporter covering sports. He joined the Trib in 2009 after seven years as a reporter at the Beaver County Times. He can be reached at charlan@triblive.com.

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