ADAMS TWP — Despite holding a 17-point lead at halftime, Mars boys basketball coach Rob Carmody wanted more.

And he let his players know it.

“Our energy level at the start of the game was not great,” he said of the Planets' Section 1-AAA clash with rival Knoch Friday night. “We missed some free throws early and had some missed assignments on defense. We got on them at halftime and they responded. That's a great thing about this group, you can really challenge these guys.”

The Planets (9-3, 6-0) opened the second half with a 17-4 run and defeated the visiting Knights 81-48.

The win included nine 3-pointers from seven different players. As a team, Mars shot 47 percent (9-of-19) from beyond the arc.

“We want the 3-pointer to be a part of our offense, but we don't want it to be our offense,” said Carmody. “Our guys do a good job of staying aggressive and playing within the offense. Nine-of-19 is a tremendous percentage from the outside.”

Mars' Robby Carmody led all scorers with 23 points while brothers Steve and John Castello both had 13.

It was a balanced scoring effort Knoch coach Ron McNabb figured his team would encounter.

“I thought we did a lot of good things defensively, but Mars is just so good and we ran into a buzzsaw tonight,” he said. “You have to hope that they have a cold-shooting night because they are so skilled and so athletic. We scheduled several Quad A teams to get us ready for games like this.”

The Knights (6-5, 3-3) saw their five-game winning streak snapped. Having two usual contributors out did not help their cause.

“Our point guard, Austin Hannes, and another guard, Devin Campbell, are both out with injury and we just found out yesterday,” said McNabb. “So, we didn't have much time to prepare. But that's to take nothing away from Mars. They are a very good team.”

Aiden Albert scored 11 points and Julian Sanks 10 for Knoch, which will close out the first half of the section slate by hosting Freeport on Tuesday.

“If we can beat Freeport, that would make us 4-3 in the first half,” said McNabb. “I'm happy with where we are.”

KNOCH 48

Aiden Albert 3 4-6 11, Ben Lucas 3 0-0 6, Mac Christy 3 2-2 8, Josh Knochel 2 0-0 6, Jackson McKee 2 0-0 5, P.J. Gourley 0 2-4 2, Julian Sanks 4 0-0 10, Jesse Fesel 0 0-0 0, Alex Stobert 0 0-0 0, Mike Dipasquale 0 0-0 0. Totals: 17 8-12 48.

MARS 81

Aaron Gruber 2 0-0 4, John Castello 5 2-2 13, Bailey Trzeciak 1 0-0 3, Brent Ashbaugh 1 0-0 3, Steve Castello 5 2-3 13, Ben Perdziola 1 0-0 2, Sam Morrissey 1 0-0 3, Ryan Giallonardo 2 0-1 4, Christian Schmitt 2 3-4 9, Robby Carmody 9 3-7 23, Ben Lewis 0 2-2 2, Nate Sablowski 1 0-0 2, Cade Hetzler 0 0-0 0, Nate Rosswog 0 0-0 0, Mike Wright 0 0-0 0. Totals: 30 12-19 81.

Knoch 12 8 12 16 — 48

Mars19 18 26 18 — 81

3-point goals: Knoch 6 (Sanks 2, Knochel 2, McKee, Albert); Mars 9 (Schmitt 2, Carmody 2, S. Castello, Morrissey, Ashbaugh, Trzeciak, J. Castello).

Saturday: Mars vs. Seneca Valley at CW North Catholic

Tuesday: Freeport at Knoch