ADAMS TWP — Mars came out on fire and Indiana got burned.

Friday night's Section 1-AAA boys basketball showdown turned into a smoke show, as the Planets drained 14-of-19 3-pointers in a 76-38 victory over the Indians at Mars High School.

“We have been waiting all year for that explosion,” said Mars coach Rob Carmody. “I fully expected it to be a game that was going to be decided by free throws in the last minute. ... Not in my wildest dreams would I have imagined that. It's a great credit to our kids and their focus.”

Mitch Buzard sparked the Planets (15-3, 9-0) early with a pair of treys and finished with a game-high 20 points. He was 4-of-6 from beyond the arc.

“We haven't been shooting too great the past few games and I just thought tonight was our night,” said Buzard. “We came out shooting hot. We were real focused.”

Zach May recently returned from injury and poured in 17 points off the bench, drilling 5-of-7 3-pointers.

“We wanted to jump on them from the start,” said May. “They're a very good basketball team. We figured if we got on them early, we'd be able to handle them from there.”

And the Planets did just that.

Mars led 16-10 after the first quarter, widened the gap to 37-23 by halftime and started the third frame on an 8-0 run. The Planets closed the game with an exclamation point, dropping 31 points in the fourth.

The Indians (14-5, 8-2) were left helpless on the defensive end, as Mars efficiently spread the floor and forced Indiana to pick its poison.

“And it was everybody,” said Indiana coach Greg Lezanic. “It didn't matter who was in there; it didn't matter who was shooting the basketball.

“There wasn't a whole lot we could do. They just took us apart like a surgeon would.”

Darious Carter led Indiana with 18 points on 8-of-13 shooting and tied Mars' Josh Goetz with a game-high seven rebounds, but the Indians had no answer for the balance of the Planets.

Matt Getsy quietly tallied 15 points on 7-for-10 shooting, Owen Nearhoof added eight points and Goetz chipped in six. Garrett Ashbaugh posted solid all-around numbers with five points, five rebounds and a game-high five assists.

Mars shot 28-of-47 from the floor — 59.6 percent — and recorded 16 assists as a team.

“You don't shoot that well without great passes. We threw great passes that got us into our shots,” said Carmody. “You're not going to shoot that way all the time. It was a perfect storm. It's a Friday night, you have a big crowd, the juices are flowing and things happen.”

Carmody credited Ashbaugh with running the offense effectively and setting the tone on the defensive end of the floor.

“He is the reason that game happened tonight. Plain and simple, he is the key to our basketball team,” Carmody explained. “You don't make 14 out of 19 3-pointers without someone getting you the ball and he does it. He's just outstanding.”

“That's how we want to come out and play every game,” said Ashbaugh. “We want to come out and play as hard as we can. We knew tonight was a big night and we all rose to the challenge.”

Lezanic hopes his young Indians — who didn't have a senior enter the game — can chalk it up as a learning experience.

“I want my guys to soak up this environment,” said the Indiana coach. “It wasn't that we weren't playing defense. We were playing defense, you know? We played hard and we just need to move forward.”

“Indiana is a really terrific basketball team; we were just really on tonight,” said Carmody. “Sometimes, that just happens in basketball where a team really gets on a roll and that's the way it goes.”

INDIANA 38

Darious Carter 8-13 2-8 18, Blake Shields 1-5 0-0 2, Riley Stapleton 2-7 2-2 6, Kevin Jack 1-4 0-0 2, Derek Stapleton 1-2 0-0 2, Jacob Zilinskas 1-6 0-0 2, Dylan Stapleton 0-1 2-2 2, Jordan Hudzicki 1-2 2-2 4, Dietz 0-0 0-0 0, Gatti 0-0 0-0 0, Marshall Dietz 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 15-40 8-14 38.

MARS 76

Mitch Buzard 8-15 0-0 20, Garrett Ashbaugh 2-4 0-1 5, Josh Goetz 1-3 4-4 6, Owen Nearhoof 3-5 0-0 8, Matt Getsy 7-10 0-2 15, Zach May 6-9 0-0 17, Ben Erdahl 0-0 2-2 2, Nick DeCamp 1-1 0-0 3, Adam Bayuk 0-0 0-0 0, Brett Kloc 0-0 0-0 0, Graham Easom 0-0 0-0 0, Austin Fetsko 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 28-47 6-9 76.

Indiana 10 13 4 11—38

Mars16 21 8 31—76

3-point goals: Indiana 0-7 (R. Stapleton 0-3, Carter 0-1, Shields 0-1, Dy. Stapleton 0-1, M. Dietz 0-1); Mars 14-19 (May 5-7, Buzard 4-6, Nearhoof 2-3, Ashbaugh 1-1, Getsy 1-1, DeCamp 1-1).

Monday: Freeport at Mars