ADAMS TWP — The numbers were astronomical.

Forty-nine teams, 86 games, 479 players, 100-plus volunteer coaches, 50 high school boys and girls basketball players volunteering their services, 18 sponsors and 16 officials.

It all came together to make the third annual Mars Youth Basketball Tournament happen last weekend.

The tournament featured seven divisions of boys teams in grades 3-6 and has become the largest tourney of its kind in Western Pennsylvania.

“We started with 24 teams the first year we did this,” tournament committee member and Mars youth basketball coach Eric Cunningham said. “It grew to 32 teams last year and pretty much 50 this year.

“The community just gets behind this. Youth basketball is as big in Mars as it is anywhere.”

Maybe even bigger.

There were 116 kids involved in Mars youth basketball this year. The program cuts nobody and has become a factory for the Mars High School program.

Cunningham, Paul Roush, Mike Kemper and Doug Kepreos combined to get the Mars youth tournament — and youth program — rolling.

“When I came here 17 years ago, Mars wasn’t known for its boys basketball,” Mars varsity boys coach Rob Carmody said. “Now we’ve been to the WPIAL playoffs nine years in a row, the state playoffs four years in a row ... That type of sustained success cannot happen without younger kids getting involved and staying involved.”

Mars entered eight teams in last weekend’s tournament — three fifth-grade squads, two sixth-grade, two fourth-grade and a third-grade team.

The Planets’ youth program offers one third-grade team because “that’s the first year for the kids and it’s all developmental,” Cunningham said. “We have at least two teams at every other grade so the more competitive, advanced kids can play together and the kids still developing their skills can play together.

“There’s a place for everybody and everybody gets on the court and plays,” Cunningham added.

Kepreos coaches the Mars sixth-graders and also runs the Caveman basketball AAU program in the area.

“There is stability in the varsity program here and that just filters on down,” Kepreos said. “Playing time is never an issue on these youth teams. Every kid plays at least 10 minutes in every game.

“Everybody stays interested. Everybody keeps improving.”

Winning doesn’t just happen. Winning is learned.

Cunningham pointed out that the Planets’ current sixth-grade teams win 70 percent of their games. Those same kids won one game as third-graders, three games as fourth-graders.

“The drills, practices and exercises are the same things the high school team does,” Cunningham said. “The system never changes. You could take a third-grade player to a Mars High School game, tell him to go play the ‘3’ position and he would know exactly where to go on the court.”

Carmody opens up his high school practices and invites Mars youth players to come and watch.

“They see we’re working on the same things the same way that they are,” Carmody said.

During the youth tournament, Mars varsity players show up to run the clock or lend assistance to the tournament in any way needed.

“At the fifth-sixth grade championship game Sunday, two of our varsity boys were working the clock and another 12 varsity players were sitting behind them, rooting on those kids,” Carmody said. “The kids get a little nervous, knowing the high school guys are watching, but it’s a big deal to them.

“Our high school guys are great role models. The younger kids are striving to be the next John Castello or Alex Gruber. They want to be a part of this.”

Mars seventh-grade team was 11-8 this season. The eighth grade squad was 17-2, the freshman team 15-6.

“A few years ago, we were in the playoffs and had maybe 50 to 75 people, mostly parents, in the stands,” Carmody said. “This year, when we played Ambridge, we sold out the home half of North Hills gym.

“This town has become basketball crazy.”

Kepreos agreed.

“There’s a lot of people contributing to growing basketball players here,” he said. “All of these kids ... Everybody plays, everybody stays and they’re having fun. It’s all about making the kids better.”