Moon vs. Mars (3-18-19) Preview

Mars basketball player, Andrew Recchia (13), shoots a basketball over Moon Area player, Austin Ryan (10), on March 1st 2019 in the WPIAL 5A Boys Basketball championship game at the Petersen Events Center.

Source: TRIB LIVE HSSN

When Moon and Mars last played each other on March 1st 2019, they were both trying to win the WPIAL 5A Boys Basketball championship. Moon had a 32-18 lead at halftime against Mars in that game; but, in the second half Mars decided to play even harder and won the game by a score of 58-56 because of a game winning 3-point shot by Andrew Recchia. Recchia recorded a total of 23 points in that WPIAL championship game.

Even though Moon lost the WPIAL championship game, they are still continuing to fight in the PIAA 5A Boys Basketball playoffs as they have won games against non-WPIAL schools such as Northeastern, Archbishop Ryan and Lower Dauphin. In order for Moon to get to the PIAA 5A Boys Basketball championship game they have to try to beat Mars tomorrow at 7PM at New Castle High School. It will be a rematch of the WPIAL 5A championship game. Mars has won their three state playoff games against Milton Hershey, William Penn and Meadville.

This season, Mars and Moon were not in the same section as in years past when they were in the same section. These two teams are still rivals even though they are not in the same section and the fact that these two teams will have to play each other in a playoff game for the second time this season will only increase the intensity of this rivalry.

For seniors such as Khori Fusco, Brandon Caruso and Andrew Recchia, this could be their last game as a Fighting Planet. While for seniors such as Austin Ryan, Connor Ryan, Jioni Smith, Devontae Humphries, Tre Carter and Taru Jones, this could be their last game as a Tiger.

Even though the seniors on both teams will be trying to make an impact in the game tomorrow, juniors Michael Carmody (Mars) and Donovan Johnson (Moon) will play their hearts out tomorrow as we will see who wants to play in the state championship game more. Carmody has already won 2 WPIAL basketball championships and has been to 1 PIAA basketball championship game. The fact that Carmody did not get that state championship had to make him mad as he worked so hard to get to Hershey last year and his brother, Robby Carmody, who was a senior last year worked just as hard as Michael to get to that state championship game. Even though we might see Michael Carmody continue his athletic career in college as a football player, he would be really happy to get his father a state championship in basketball for this season.

Moon Area player, Donovan Johnson, has been to a WPIAL championship game in three straight years and has lost all three of those games. If there is any boys basketball player in the WPIAL that deserves to be angry its Johnson. In order for Moon to beat Mars and go to Hershey, Donovan needs to play the best game of his life tomorrow. If Johnson is able to bully his way against the Mars defense, then he should see himself playing for a state title on Friday. The whole student section of Moon had big expectations when Johnson decided to transfer to Moon after spending his freshman and sophomore seasons at the Our Lady of the Sacred Heart. Johnson must have realized at one point this season that the Moon students are relying on him to bring a state title to the school and put it in a case. This Johnson's time to bring home a trophy to the school. He has worked too hard in his life to not win a WPIAL or PIAA trophy.

On the other hand, after Mars Area player, Andrew Recchia, hit the game winning 3-point shot in the WPIAL championship game, he must have thought to himself that from now on he could literally overcome any obstacle in his life. The fact that he basically won the game for his team showed that he is a clutch player who has been making plays for Mars throughout the whole season. Recchia knows that his team is expected to make it to the state championship game and we will see if they will be able to do that.

This game will be very entertaining to watch tomorrow as we should expect to see Pittsburgh Post-Gazette high school sports writer, Mike White, to be in attendance for that game. It is due or die for both teams.

BY Hilton: bythebossandgoat@gmail.com and Twitter @BYHilton13