ADAMS TWP — Mars coach Rob Carmody knows he's not letting the cat out of the bag when it comes to slowing down his team.

"For us, I don't think I'm giving away any trade secrets that Steve Cress and Vinny Smith are guys we have to lean on," said Carmody.

On Tuesday, the Planets needed their duo to come through, which they did at Hampton's expense.

The pair combined for 24 second-half points while Cress scored with four seconds remaining to give Mars a 55-54 Section 1-AAA boys basketball victory.

Hampton held a 54-48 lead with 2:23 remaining before the Planets (4-3, 1-1) closed out the game by scoring the final seven points.

Smith scored with 2:03 remaining, then Cress stole the ball and continued through with a slam dunk to pull Mars to within two points with 1:50 to play.

Cress made another steal and raced to the basket before a hard foul sent him to the line, where he made one of two free throws with 1:04 left.

Mars forced another turnover with 22 seconds remaining and called time out with 17.1 seconds left.

"The play was designed to get the ball to Steve," said Carmody. "The way he finished the game, I'd be a fool to try and use him as a decoy. I didn't want to outsmart myself.

"You had a guy on the floor in the last few minutes of the game taking over. If they left Steve 1-on-1, he could go or if they had 3-on-1, it would be a free run for Vinny. Either way, we had a good chance to get the ball in the basket,"Carmody added.

As it turned out, it was the latter, except Cress went up strong beneath the basket and scored.

"I figured I'd be going to the line or score," said Cress. "I tried to get fouled. If not, (Smith) would clean it up."

Cress, a 6-foot-6 senior, and Smith, a 6-foot-5 junior, were a tandem that Hampton coach Joe Lafko knew his young team would have to contend with.

"Cress and Vinny Smith have a lot of experience and they stepped up and made plays when they had to, defensively, as well as offensively," Lafko said.

As it turned out, Hampton had two chances to score before the final seconds ticked off.

Following the basket by Cress, Hampton called a timeout with 3.2 seconds left, but the deep inbounds pass went out of bounds on the other side of the court to give the Planets the ball.

Mars' Dave Petruska was fouled with 2.2 seconds left, but missed the front end of a 1-and-1 and the Talbots rebounded and threw the ball up near midcourt. Pat Dill's desperation shot just past midcourt hit the backboard as time expired.

"We both knew it was going to be a close game," said Cress. "We're the leaders and we know we had to step up."

"I give credit to all the guys on the floor at the end of the game," said Carmody. "Vinny could have stopped at the top of the key and waited, but he got in there.

"Dante DeTillio and Alec Mahon were big defensively. Their quickness provided our defense with some confidence,"Carmody added.

Cress finished the game with 20 points and Smith added 17 to lead the offensive effort.

HAMPTON 54Bill Luther 3 3-3 10, Dan O'Mara 5 5-6 15, Pat Dill 4 0-0 8, Matt Madia 5 4-4 15, Tim Donegan 3 0-0 6, Nathan Winek 0 0-0 0, Greg Conner 0 0-0 0, Jordan Paskorz 0 0-0 0, Dan Hannan 0 0-0 0, Ben Mall 0 0-0 0.

Totals: 20 12-13 54.

MARS 55Chris Herold 3 0-0 8, Ben Szilogy 1 0-0 2, Dave Petruska 2 0-1 6, Vinny Smith 7 3-3 17, Steve Cress 7 6-8 20, Dante DeTillio 1 0-0 2, Alec Mahon 0 0-0 0.

Totals: 21 9-12 55.

Hampton 12 14 14 14—54Mars 11 12 16 16—553-point goals: Luther, Madia; Herold 2, Petruska 2

Friday: Mars at Valley