Looking For The Repeat

Mars Boys basketball player, Khori Fusco, has been enjoying his time on the team.

Source: Khori Fusco (TWITTER)

When Robby Carmody graduated from Mars Area High School, last year, a lot of people thought that the 2018-19 Mars Boys varsity basketball team was going to be good, not great. Some people thought that with Robby leaving that it would be hard for Mars to try to repeat as WPIAL 5A Boys basketball champions.

Believe it or not, this 18-19 Mars team could be arguably just as good as the 17-18 Mars team. Heck, if you want to say that the 18-19 team is better than the 17-18 team that is absolutely fine by me. With the regular season now ended, Mars had a section record of 14-0 and an overall record of 21-1. Their only loss was on December 20th 2018 against Birmingham Charter, California, the Fighting Planets lost by a score of 64-60. They were actually so close to winning. Last year's Mars team had a section record of 11-1 and an overall regular season record of 18-4.

Take a minute and think about it, if you look at the teams that Mars played last season and the teams they played this season, you can debate that Mars schedule might have gotten harder, this season, and they had a better regular season record then they did last season.

Even though there is no Robby Carmody on this season's team, what this 18-19 team has that the 17-18 team didn't have was simply experience. The current players on the team that was on the 17-18 WPIAL championship team like Nolan Carr, Brandon Caruso, Kevin Ceh, Andrew Recchia, Michael Carmody and other players didn't know what it was like winning a WPIAL basketball championship. Last year, they were able to win because they were playing efficient basketball at the right time. Each and every game up until they won the WPIAL championship, last season, they were just learning about how to win consistently and how to gain confidence.

Well going into last offseason the returning players on the team knew what it was like to win a WPIAL championship and make a deep run in the state playoffs. So, even though there is no Robby Carmody on this season's team, they have players that have been to the Petersen Events Center and have gotten the job done. That's why Mars is ranked #1 in the WPIAL in 5A and will have the #1 spot in the WPIAL 5A playoffs because of the experience the whole team has. They will have a first round bye in the WPIAL playoffs.

Last year, it seemed that everybody would talk about Robby Carmody game after game after game. It makes sense though because he did help carry the team and he did not mind doing at all. This year, it's different, everyone on the team is making an impact and it seems that every game, a different player on the team is scoring big points. Some games it might be Recchia leading the team in points in a game. Some games it might be Carmody leading the team in points in a game. Like, someone new will step up each game.

Khori Fusco has to be enjoying playing his senior year of basketball at Mars Area High School. Fusco played his first three years of high school basketball at Clairton High School. So, yes he was on the court when Clairton and Monessen had the brawl in a regular season basketball game, last season. Fusco is playing on a team that could possibly win another WPIAL championship for the second straight year. Fusco's former team, Clairton, are doing worst in his absence as their section record was 6-6. Last season when Fusco was on the team, Clairton's section record was 8-1.

The Fighting Planets have to be favorites entering the WPIAL 5A Boys basketball playoffs and all the other teams in the brackets are going to come after them. Mars will be ready. They have experience, a good coach and a will to win.