Andrew Recchia Is A Legend
Mars basketball players, Andrew Recchia (13) and Khori Fusco (2), celebrate during the 2019 WPIAL 5A Boys Basketball championship game at the Petersen Events Center.
Source: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Mars defeated Moon in the WPIAL 5A Boys Basketball championship game by a score of 58-56. There are three things you should take away after watching that game. The first thing you should take away is that Mars completed a nice comeback. They were losing to Moon 32-18 at halftime; but, in the second half every Mars basketball player that was on the court was making an impact unlike the first half when it seemed that Mars player, Andrew Recchia, was doing all the work.
The second thing you should take away from this game is that Andrew Recchia legitimately became a WPIAL. Mars was trailing 56-55 and with 0:02 remaining and Recchia hit a game winning 3-point shot to help Mars win the game 58-56. After Recchia hit the 3-point shot, Moon Area basketball player, Cameron Goble, was trying to inbound the basketball across the court to one of his teammates; but, Mars player, Michael Carmody, intercepted the ball and that's how the game ended. Moon could not get one more shot and Moon's head coach, Adam Kaufman, was not happy. That moment when Recchia shot that 3-point shot was the most pressure that he had ever had to face in his life and he was able to be clutch. Recchia scored a total of 23 points in the whole game.
The third thing you should take away from this game is Moon Area basketball player, Donovan "Puff" Johnson, is now 0-3 all-time in WPIAL basketball championship games. In his freshman year of high school at the Our Lady of the Sacred Heart, his team made it to the WPIAL 2A Boys basketball championship game and lost to Sewickley Academy 71-60. In his sophomore year of high school at the Our Lady of the Sacred Heart, his team made it to the WPIAL 2A Boys basketball championship game again and lost to Sewickley Academy 63-59. Now, in "Puff's" junior year of high school at Moon Area, his team made it to the WPIAL 5A Boys basketball championship game and lost to Mars 58-56. Put yourself in Donovan Johnson shoes. Imagine helping your team get to three WPIAL Boys Basketball championship games and losing all three of those games. Like, you have to be not just sad or disappointed, you have to be angry. Johnson finished the game with 13 points.
For the rest of the Mars basketball players in the WPIAL championship game, Brandon Caruso scored 14 points, Khori Fusco scored 12 points and Michael Carmody scored 9 points. Yes, only 4 players for Mars scored in this game. In the first half, it seemed that Donovan Johnson had his way against Michael Carmody as it seemed that every time those two would matchup against each other, Carmody would foul Johnson. Then in the second half, it seemed that Carmody had his way against Johnson as it seemed that every time those two would matchup against each other Johnson would either foul Carmody or turn the ball over.
For the rest of Moon Area's basketball players, Jioni Smith scored 12 points, Taru Jones scored 7 points, Austin Ryan scored 11 points, Connor Ryan scored 10 points and Tre Carter scored a 3-point basket. This was a game that these Moon basketball players are going to try as hard as they can to forget. Imagine being up 14 points at halftime against the defending WPIAL 5A Boys basketball champions and then blowing the lead and losing the game. There was no way that any of the Moon players had any sleep last night. The whole Moon team was able to make 3-point shots in the first half and in the second half they were not able to make as many 3-points shots that they did in the first half and it really affected them.
For a lot of the Mars basketball players like Michael Carmody, Brandon Caruso and Andrew Recchia, they are now back-to-back and 2x WPIAL champions in the sport of basketball. Yes, Michael Carmody now has won more WPIAL championships than his brother, Robby Carmody, who plays NCAA Men's college basketball at the Division 1 level at the University of Notre Dame. Mars player, Khori Fusco, has to be very happy that he transferred to Mars from Clairton because he has now won a WPIAL basketball championship. At Clairton, Fusco did not win a WPIAL basketball championship; but, he did win 2 football WPIAL championship at the school in 2015 and 2016 when he was a freshman and sophomore and Penn State defensive back, LaMont Wade was on the team.
Mars head coach, Rob Carmody, has to be very happy that his team was able to win WPIAL basketball championships in back-to-back years is now his team will be focusing on winning a PIAA basketball title.