Moon shows postseason form in decisive win over section rival Mars

By: Kyle Dawson
Friday, January 30, 2026 | 11:08 PM

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After a first quarter that was a bit back and forth Friday night at Moon, the host Tigers raced away with a fourth-straight win, beating Mars, 76-38, in Section 4-5A play.

The Tigers (16-3, 7-3) pulled away from the Fightin’ Planets (9-10, 5-4) with a 26-11 second quarter that saw senior Braeden Stuart score as many points as the visitors did.

Stuart’s 18 and Brody Bauman’s game-high 19 points paced the effort for Moon, which has already clinched a playoff spot and is playing for seeding, one game at a time.

“It’s a section game at home on a Friday night. Any section game in this section is a brutal one, so I’m happy with the way we played,” said Moon coach Gino Palmosina. “We started a little slow out of the gates, but once we got rolling, I was proud of how we executed the (defensive) game plan.”

A stifling plan it was: Moon scored more points in the first quarter (13) than Mars did in any quarter, which included the Planets being held to seven points in the fourth, which was mostly played by Moon’s reserves. Six players not normally in the rotation saw time, highlighted by Chase Tumulty, who poured in eight points in his time on the floor, more than Mars as a team in the quarter.

“I always say I sometimes don’t know what I’m doing offensively, but our bread and butter … we have a certain standard we play by,” said Palmosina. “I have to shout out Adam Kaufman, the old coach here. A lot of the stuff we do is what he did. It’s a requirement to get on the floor for us.”

Stuart and Bauman were all over the floor for the Tigers, which Palmosina said is important.

“(When) we’re getting double figures from guys like that, it’s really important,” said Palmosina. “Brody is like our sixth man, Energizer bunny a little bit. He’s an unbelievable defensive player, and he can really shoot it, so getting him to that number expands our offense.”

In total, 10 players scored for the Tigers with AJ Buford and Tumulty at eight points and Jackson Bauman next in line with seven.

Mars had nine players score. Ben Detisch’s eight points led the way in defeat while three players — Chase Thimons, Nick Santoro and Sam Miller — had six each.

Mars plays Monday at home against Montour in what is a win-and-in game for the Fightin’ Planets.

The Tigers’ win sends them to the last week of regular-season action on a four-game win streak with West Allegheny and Montour on the schedule. They rolled past Blackhawk, 70-36, earlier in the week.

“Each year at this time, you kind of find out your weaknesses,” said Palmosina. “At the end of the day, you have to win four basketball games when the bracket comes out. We’ll worry about Tuesday (on) Tuesday and Friday (on) Friday, and then we’ll worry about the first round of the playoffs when it comes.”

Tags: Mars, Moon