WEXFORD — His name is Michael.

Forgotten and overlooked at times because of his older brother, Robby, Michael Carmody struggled to emerge from a long basketball shadow.

“I always hear other student sections yelling, 'Fat Robby,' and stuff like that,” said Michael, who is listed at 6-foot-7 and 285 pounds. “I kind of just laugh at it. I go out and play my own game. Me and Robby are two different types of players. I loved watching him. I always wanted to be like him. But I'm not him.”

His name is Michael.

And he dominated for the Mars boys basketball team in a 74-52 win over Shaler Friday night in the WPIAL 5A quarterfinals at North Allegheny High School.

Michael Carmody scored 23 points and added 30 rebounds, imposing his will at each end of the floor.

“Stud,” said Mars coach Rob Carmody, who is used to watching one of his sons wreck an opposing team. Robby did it regularly through last season. Now he's in his redshirt-freshman season on the Notre Dame basketball team.

Michael's style is different. Where Robby slashed and soared to the rim for points — and could shoot from anywhere, too — Michael does the bulk of his damage in the paint.

He did, though, hit two 3-pointers early to help Mars build an 11-2 lead after the first quarter.

The rest of the time he was a force on the glass.

“We didn't have an answer for Carmody,” said Shaler coach Rob Neiderberger. “He's like a man-child on the boards.”

When told how many rebounds Michael had, Neiderberger expressed his amazement.

“You can't teach that,” he said. “He just crushed us.”

After falling behind 16-3, Shaler did make a little run toward the end of the half, cutting the Mars lead to 24-20.

But the Planets scored the final four points of the frame to enter halftime with an eight-point lead and then pulled away in the third to lead 50-33 heading into the fourth.

The Mars lead got as big as 24 in the fourth quarter.

“I thought in the second quarter we turned it around and I liked where the game was going,” Neiderberger said.

But all that changed.

Mars was the more seasoned playoff team.

“This was our 22nd playoff game since these guys were freshmen,” Rob Carmody said.

Andrew Recchia had an uncharacteristic poor shooting night, but still ended up with 19 points. Khori Fusco added 16 points and Brandon Caruso 10 for Mars, which will take on Chartiers Valley in the semifinals Tuesday at a site and time to be determined.

“If you want to continue to advance, you have to play better,” Rob Carmody said. “In tournament basketball, you don't want your last game to be your highlight. We want Tuesday to be our best game and Friday after that, hopefully.”

Mars, the defending WPIAL champion, hopes to keep having better games to repeat with another Carmody leading the charge.

His name is Michael.

“I talked to Andrew before the game — tonight we put it on our shoulders,” Michael said. “This is our team now. Andrew played great. Khori has been awesome for us all year and Brandon — I think Brandon is the best defender in the WPIAL.”

SHALER 52

Mekhi Reynolds 6-17 2-3 14, Brennan Fugh 4-6 2-4 10, Matt Bendel 2-8 1-2 5, Justin Desabato 6-11 2-6 16, Colton Schott 2-4 0-0 5, Jake Miller 1-2 0-1 2. Totals: 21 7-16 52.

MARS 74

Khori Fusco 6-14 3-4 16, Michael Carmody 10-12 1-4 23, Andrew Recchia 6-17 5-7 19, Brandon Caruso 4-8 0-0 10, Zach Schlegel 0-0 2-2 2, Kevin Ceh 2-2 0-0 4. Totals: 23 11-17 74.

Shaler 2 18 13 19 — 52

Mars 11 17 22 24 — 74

3-point goals: Justin Desabato 2, Colton Schott; Khori Fusco, Michael Carmody 2, Andrew Recchia 2, Brandon Caruso 2.

Tuesday: WPIAL 5A semifinals against Chartiers Valley. Time and location TBD.