ADAMS TWP — Balanced scoring is nothing new for the Mars boys basketball team.

But considering their opponent, the Planets' latest effort is sure to raise some eyebrows.

Mars featured five players with at least 12 points — led by John Castello's 24 — as the high-flying Planets thumped previously undefeated Hampton 82-61 Tuesday evening at Mars High School.

Both teams entered the contest tied atop the Section 1-AAA standings with perfect 6-0 records.

Alex Gruber added 16 points in the win, Robby Carmody had 14, Christian Schmitt 13 and Ryan Giallonardo 12.

“It came down to sharing the ball,” said Schmitt, whose total included a trio of 3-pointers. “John and Alex got going early. When they started scoring, they (Talbots) started to collapse their defense and that opened up the outside. We are all capable of scoring 20 points on any given night.”

Hampton won its first six section games by an average of nearly 23 points, but the Talbots were swallowed up by the hot-shooting Planets. In the final three quarters, Mars shot 60 percent (24-of-40) from the field.

“What I really liked was we got past their press and attacked,” said Mars coach Rob Carmody, “but we also pulled it back when we needed to.”

Meanwhile, the Talbots (12-1, 6-1) could not match Mars' consistency, making just 34 percent (22-of-65) of their shots, including 7-of-28 from 3-point range.

“We didn't shoot the ball the way we are capable of and credit Mars' defense for that,” said Hampton coach Joe Lafko. “We weren't able to create enough offense with our defense. You aren't going to win many games giving up 82 points.”

Mars (14-1, 7-0) led 45-37 at halftime, but the Planets did have three starters shouldered with three fouls at that point — Gruber, Schmitt and Robby Carmody. All three were on the court for the start of the second half, though they had switched to a zone defense.

“That's the first time we did that this season and we did it because of the foul trouble,” Rob Carmody said.

The Planets responded by giving up just 24 points in the second half.

“It's tough not to be tentative when you're in foul trouble,” Schmitt said, “but we did a great job of not picking up more fouls. We switched to zone and it gave Hampton fits.”

Joey Lafko paced Hampton with 23 points, 15 coming in the first half.

Though the defeat of Hampton was a crucial win, the Planets are only halfway done with their section slate. The second half begins Friday against Burrell at home.

“The hard part is keeping our focus after winning a game like this,” said Rob Carmody, “but it does give us confidence.”

HAMPTON 61

Pat Murray 4 3-5 12, Joey Lafko 8 6-7 23, Ben Huber 1 0-0 2, Antonio Ionadi 3 0-0 8, Jack Morrison 3 0-1 8, David Huber 3 1-2 8, Jack Kramer 0 0-0 0. Totals: 22 10-15 61.

MARS 82

Alex Gruber 8 0-1 16, John Castello 10 4-4 24, Ryan Giallonardo 3 6-9 12, Christian Schmitt 4 2-2 13, Robby Carmody 6 0-3 14, Nate Sablowski 1 0-0 2, Mitch Verplank 0 1-2 1, Aaron Gruber 0 0-0 0. Totals: 32 13-21 82.

Hampton 17 20 15 9 — 61

Mars19 26 19 18 — 82

3-point goals: Hampton 7 (Ionadi 2, Morrison 2, D. Huber, Lafko, Murray); Mars 5 (Schmitt 3, Carmody 2).

Friday: Burrell at Mars