ADAMS TWP — Win or lose, Mars boys basketball coach Rob Carmody has been able to count on one thing this season — hustle.

The Planets used it Monday night to advance to the championship game of their own holiday tournament.

Behind 20 points from senior center Vinny Smith, the Planets defeated Sto-Rox 67-45 and will face Hickory, a 55-33 winner over Northgate, at 6 p.m. today.

The Mars girls lost to Sto-Rox 49-37 and will face Moon at 4:30 p.m. today in the consolation game.

Mars gained control of the boys contest early and led 36-23 at halftime, with Smith scoring 14 of his points in the first two quarters.

"Vinny's played great in the early going this year," said Carmody. "As a team, we just have to do a better job of getting him the ball when he's open. Right now, we're getting him the ball in some tough spots."

Aiding Mars' 13-point lead at halftime was Brad Weischedel's 10 points in that span.

A sophomore guard, Weischedel did not start, but he made an immediate impact once he entered the game.

"He came in when Chris (Herold) got into some early foul trouble," said Carmody. "He helped to extend our lead while he was in and brings great energy to the floor."

The Vikings (5-6) committed 14 turnovers in the first half and missed their first 10 field goal attempts in the second half.

Consecutive 3-pointers from Christian Locher and Herold pushed the Planets' lead to 46-25 with 3:49 remaining in the third period.

"We played out of control in the first half tonight," said Sto-Rox coach Nick Pappaterra. "It hurts that we don't have a point guard to run the offense right now."

The Vikings did receive 19 points from Paul Jones, 11 of them coming in the second half.

Locher scored 14 points in a supporting role for the Planets (6-2).

"We did miss 14 layups tonight," said Carmody. "We're not executing in some areas, but we are playing hard, smart and together."

Girls Basketball Sto-Rox 49, Mars 37

The effort Mars coach Tony Howard saw in the second half was better than what happened the first, but it wasn't enough to knock off the Vikings.

Trailing 26-13 at the break, the Planets made several runs to keep things interesting down the stretch.

Lily Grenci's conventional three-point play with 3:26 left in the third quarter cut Mars' deficit to 33-24.

With 6:16 left in the game, Kehle Pelles hit a basket to pull Mars within 39-31.

But Sto-Rox received back-to-back baskets from Tynesha Lee that gave the Vikings a 43-31 edge before icing the win.

"Tonight, our problem was on defense," said Howard. "We pride ourselves in being able to hold teams to less than 40 points. Had we done that tonight, we would have been right there at the end."

Grenci led Mars (7-2) with 15 hard-earned points. Every shot she took was contested, sometimes by two Vikings defenders.

"Watching (Mars) on film, you can see that Grenci is their bread and butter," said Sto-Rox coach Carrie Palermo. "Offensively, all seven girls on the court tonight are capable of scoring for us."

Lee led the Vikings (10-0) with 18 points.

BoysSTO-ROX 45Paul Jones 7 4-4 19, Willie Goldwire 3 2-5 8, Lavon Black 2 2-2 6, Nick Hall 1 0-0 2, Brandon Austin 2 0-0 6, Drew Carswell 2 0-0 4, Blair Austin 0 0-3 0, Randy Hutchinson 0 0-0 0, Dennis James 0 0-0 0, Nico DiMichele 0 0-0 0, C.J. Tate 0 0-0 0. Totals: 17 8-14 45.

MARS 67Chris Herold 3 0-1 7, Brad Weischedel 3 4-6 10, Christian Locher 5 1-2 14, Luke Gruber 1 1-2 3, Alec Mahon 1 0-0 2, Mike Page 1 0-0 2, Dante DeTillio 3 3-4 9, Vinny Smith 7 6-6 20, Ian Hindley 0 0-2 0, Mike Lindenbaum 0 0-0 0, Tim Vandall 0 0-0 0, Eric Routhieaux 0 0-0 0. Totals: 24 15-23 67.

Sto-Rox 15 8 14 8—45Mars 19 17 20 11—673-point goals: Sto-Rox 3 (Br. Austin 2, Jones); Mars 4 (Locher 3, Herold).

Today: Sto-Rox vs. Northgate, 3 p.m.; Mars vs. Hickory, 6 p.m.

GirlsSTO-ROX 49Kerry Connolly 2 1-2 5, Daryl Ford 4 2-2 10, Tynesha Lee 8 2-4 18, Jackie Movitch 3 0-0 6, Kori Ford 1 0-0 3, Natalya Smara 2 0-0 5, Mia Smith 1 0-0 2. Totals: 21 5-8 49.

MARS 37Lily Grenci 4 7-10 15, Elaine Hasek 0 1-2 1, Kehle Pelles 2 1-1 5, Maureen Cress 3 0-0 9, Alexa Lee 2 1-2 7, Ashley Lynch 0 0-0 0, Ally Demetriadis 0 0-0 0. Totals: 11 10-15 37.

Sto-Rox 13 13 13 10—49Mars 6 7 14 10—373-point goals: Sto-Rox 2 (K. Ford, Smara); Mars 5 (Cress 3, Lee 2).

Today: Mars vs. Moon, 4:30 p.m.; Sto-Rox vs. North Catholic, 7:30 p.m.