Andrew Recchia (13) of Mars fights for a loose ball with Indiana's Ryan Dixson during the Planets' 88-44 victory Friday night. Recchia scored 23 points in the contest.

ADAMS TWP — When is a 44-point victory not satisfying?

When you have the standards of the Mars boys basketball team.

Sure, the Planets won by a score of 88-44 at home Friday night, showing the flashes of a program that is undefeated and sits atop the WPIAL Section 3-5A standings.

But there was also the slow start — a bugaboo that has plagued Mars at times this season — and the mental lapses that allowed overmatched and winless Indiana to stay close for the bulk of the first half.

“We came to play,” said Mars coach Rob Carmody, “but not to win.”

That's an important distinction for the longtime Mars coach, who has raised the profile of the program from just another competitive team to a threat to win the WPIAL and PIAA title on a yearly basis.

Even with Robbie Carmody, a 2,300-point scorer and Gatorade Player of the Year gone and medically redshirted at Notre Dame, the Planets sit at 14-1 overall and 8-0 in the section with three weeks to play in the regular season.

But Rob Carmody would like to see his team play with a little more fire.

Time is waning, after all.

“We have a lot of really good players, but there has to be urgency,” the coach said. “That is a recipe for maybe not getting where you want to be. That's something we're going to have to keep pushing in these next three weeks.

“It is nice to be (14-1) while we're still figuring it out,” he added.

Mars played well in spurts early against Indiana (2-13, 0-8).

The Planets led 21-8, but watched the Indians draw to 27-22 with five minutes remaining in the second quarter,

Mars flipped the switch again, however, closing the half on a 20-3 run to take a 47-25 lead at the break.

The Planets put the game away with a dominating stretch to start the third quarter.

“What is exciting about this group is I don't think we've had a game at any point this year when the guys were all playing to their potential,” Rob Carmody said. “We've had our moments ... but eventually you don't want to keep going to that. You don't want to keep turning it off and on.”

Khori Fusco, Michael Carmody and Andrew Recchia were mostly on against Indiana.

Fusco and Recchia each scored 23 points and the 6-goot-6, 295-pound Michael Carmody turned in a 14-point, 24-rebound night.

The junior Carmody had 16 rebounds at the half.

Zac Schlegel scored 14 points off the bench.

Fusco moved into the district this year from Clairton and has picked up some of the slack for the departure of Robbie Carmody.

“I didn't really feel too much pressure coming in,” Fusco said. “Robbie — that was a load he carried last year. I just play my own game. Andrew is a big help. Brandon (Caruso),Mike — we just play off each other and we've been playing well.”Fusco was a perfect 4-for-4 from the floor for 11 points in the third quarter and finished 7 of 12 from the field and 7 of 8 from the line.It was the one free throw miss, though, that he made sure to mention when talking about how he could improve.“I made some mistakes tonight,” he said.Pointing out the mistakes, however, is how Rob Carmody thinks his team can get better.“You're always looking at the warts,” he said.“Maybe I'm just crazy,” he added, smiling. “I'm not satisfied with what we've done so far.“But ... we're scoring more points per game than last year and giving up fewer. I'm excited about how good we could be.”INDIANA 44Owen Daugherty 2-6 0-0 5, Simon Bianco 3-9 0-0 8, Ryan Dixon 2-8 0-0 4, Alec Petroff 1-3 0-0 2, Chase Walker 5-9 3-4 13, Austin Miller 0-4 3-4 3, Malik Turner 3-5 1-4 7, Luke Ciorra 0-0 0-0 0, Zuhayr Affan 0-0 0-0 0, Zeffy Cocksey 0-1 2-4 2, Jack Welch 0-1 0-0 0, Hammad Affan 0-1 0-0 0. Totals: 16-47 9-16 44.MARS 88Khori Fusco 7-12 7-8 23, Michael Carmody 6-9 2-3 14, Andrew Recchia 7-12 6-6 23, Joe Craska 2-2 2-2 7, Brandon Caruso 0-3 0-0 0, Zac Schlegel 6-8 0-0 14, Mihali Sfanos 0-4 0-0 0, Bryce Cunningham 0-1 0-0 0, Rowen Fletcher 0-1 0-2 0, Caleb Schmitt 1-1 0-0 2, Kevin Ceh 0-0 0-0 0, Will Johnson 1-1 0-0 2, Nolan Carr 0-1 0-0 0, Ryan Peaco 0-0 1-2 1, Jared Kozora 0-0 0-0 0, Jack Kepreos 1-2 0-2 2. Totals: 31-57 18-25 88.Indiana 11 14 12 7 — 44Mars23 24 25 16 — 883-point goals: Indiana 3 (Daugherty, Bianco 2); Mars 8 (Fusco 2, Recchia 3, Craska, Schlegel 2)JV: Mars 61-25Tuesday: Mars at Shaler

Mars' Khori Fusco, left, drives past Indiana defender Chase Walker for two of his 23 points during the Planets' 88-44 win Friday night.