Mars soars into 5A final on Hetzler’s final basket

ALTOONA, Pa. — Cade Hetzler didn’t play his best game Monday night, Mars coach Rob Carmody said.

Hetzler lost his man defensively several times, and the senior made some uncharacteristic turnovers.

But Hetzler did do a few things right, and his brightest moment will be talked about in Mars for a long, long time.

Hetzler scored on a driving layup with nine seconds left to give Mars a thrilling, 62-61 win against Milton Hershey in a PIAA Class 5A semifinal at Altoona High School.

Mars (25-4) will try to win its first PIAA championship when it plays Abington Heights (26-3) at 8 p.m. Friday at Giant Center in Hershey, Pa. Milton Hershey finished 26-4.

In a wild game played in front of a large crowd, Mars star Robby Carmody brought the Planets within a point at 61-60 on a 3-point play with 1:13 remaining. After a Milton Hershey turnover, a missed shot by Mars’ Andrew Recchia, and another Milton Hershey turnover, Mars took possession after a timeout with 28 seconds left.

Everyone in the building likely thought the ball would eventually end up in the hands of Carmody, the state player of the year and Notre Dame recruit who finished with 22 points. Instead, Recchia got the ball to Hetzler, whose defender slipped, allowing Hetzler to knife down the right side of the line and score the go-ahead basket.

“It obviously feels amazing,” said Hetzler, who scored 10 points. “That play was set up there. They were keying on Robby. We were trying to get him the ball and he wasn’t open. They might have had two people on him. I just saw the lane and went in. It feels amazing.”

But Milton Hershey still had time. It called a timeout with 6.5 seconds left. With a foul to give, Mars fouled with 3.6 seconds to go. After another timeout, Milton Hershey swung the ball to Pedro Rodriguez, who scored 10 of his team’s 12 fourth-quarter points, but Rodriguez misfired on a 3pointer from the corner that would have won the game.

“They got a great look at the end. It was great execution on their part. Great play design. And they missed it,” Rob Carmody said.

The game got off to an unusual start for Robby Carmody, who picked up two fouls in the first 41 seconds. But his father didn’t take him out of the game, and Mars eventually took an 1811 lead after the first quarter.

That’s when the first of two big runs took place. Milton Hershey began the second quarter on a 24-4 run to take a 35-22 lead. The Spartans were 11 of 14 from the field in the quarter and held a 37-26 halftime lead.

“Halftime kind of gave our guys a pause. Got their breath together and said, ‘All right, we’ve got to go play,’” Rob Carmody said.

Mars came out like a new team in the third, using a 209 run to make it 46-46 with 3:45 left in the quarter. Milton Hershey went ahead, 4948, after three. Robby and Mike Carmody combined for 15 of Mars’ 22 points in the quarter, as the Planets were 9 of 12 from the field.

A back-and-forth fourth quarter saw four lead changes, with Mars getting the final word on Hetzler’s winner.

Mike Carmody, a 6-foot-6 sophomore, finished with 16 points for a Mars team that had a noticeable size advantage. But Milton Hershey was athletic and speedy, and had two standouts in Rodriguez (22 points) and 5-8 point guard Donyae Baylor-Carroll (17 points).

Rob and Robby Carmody embraced on the court afterward, and Robby said there was a theme to the conversation.

“Just one more. One more game together in high school,” Carmody said. “Why not go out with a bang and bring a first state championship to Mars.”