PIAA Class 5A boys basketball championship preview: Mars vs. Abington Heights
By:
Tuesday, March 27, 2018 | 2:27 AM
Class 5A boys
Mars (25-4) vs. Abington Heights (26-3)
8 p.m. Tuesday, Giant Center, Hershey
Starting lineups
Mars
Coach: Rob Carmody
No., name, position, height, class
2, Cade Hetzler, G, 6-1, Sr.
3, Michael Carmody, F, 6-6, So.
13, Andrew Recchia, G, 5-10, Jr.
23 Brandon Caruso, G, 5-10, Jr.
24, Robby Carmody, G, 6-4, Sr.
Abington Heights
Coach: Ken Bianchi
No., name, position, height, class
10, George Tinsley, G/F, 6-5, Jr.
11, Corey Perkins, G, 6-1, So.
22, Jackson Danzig, G/F, 6-6, Sr.
23, Jack Nealon, G, 5-11, Jr.
45, Mike Malone, C, 6-4, So.
Title-game history: Abington Heights is in the state finals for the first time. Mars reached the finals once, finishing as PIAA runner-up in 2016.
Notable: Tinsley and Danzig are the top scorers for District 2 champion Abington Heights, a public school in Lackawanna County. Danzig scored 38 points and made eight 3-pointers in the quarterfinals, a 76-56 victory over Northeastern. Tinsley was the team's top scorer in the semifinals with 18 points to defeat Bonner-Pendergast, 56-51, in overtime. Danzig is a Scranton recruit, a Division 3 school where his father Carl is coach. Bianci, who owns more than 700 wins in four decades, has coached Abington Heights for 22 seasons. Mars lost to Neumann-Goretti, 99-66, in the 2016 Class 3A state final. Robby Carmody, a Notre Dame commit, scored 20 points in that championship loss.
Predicted winner: Mars
Tags: Mars
More High School Basketball
• Westmoreland high school notebook: Puck drops for area’s PIHL teams• Penn Hills notebook: Basketball grad to play professionally in Ireland
• New coach Gabby Baldasare excited to fill big shoes with North Allegheny girls basketball
• Dana Petruska comes out of retirement to take over as girls basketball coach at Deer Lakes
• Imani Christian basketball player among 3 transfers ruled ineligible by WPIAL
