ADAMS TWP — Mars boys basketball coach Rob Carmody saw firsthand the work Christian Schmitt put in during the offseason.

“He spent this summer with the basketball in his hands,” Carmody said of his junior point guard. “He spent so much time on getting better. He improved his body. He improved his shooting — not that he was a bad shooter, but just his confidence and the lift in his shot. You see it come out of his hand and it's beautiful.”

Schmitt showed the benefits of all that work in the first half of the season-opener for Mars against Cardinal Wuerl North Catholic, scoring all 18 of his points in the first half as the Planets routed the Trojans, 70-43, in the Scott Lang Memorial Tournament at Mars High School Friday night.

Schmitt scored 13 points in the second quarter as the Planets shook off a slow start to lead 42-17 at halftime.

“Last year, (Schmitt) was kind of thrown into the fire,” Carmody said. “Obviously, when you have a point guard now with a whole year of experience, that's big, and you saw it (Friday night). He was confident. He was calm. He didn't let anything affect him.”

Even an 0-for-11 shooting start from the field for his team.

Cardinal Wuerl was just as cold in the first four minutes of the game, going 0-for-11 itself from the floor.

Schmitt finally broke the drought with a layup for a 3-1 Planets' lead. Mars then settled down and went on a 12-3 run to end the quarter.

“What I liked in those first four minutes was the growth of our poise,” Carmody said. “The ball was not going into the basket, but we didn't lose our minds. We didn't stop playing defense, because in that stretch, if you're not playing good defense, you could be down 10-, 12-nothing.”

Mars went on a 14-0 run to start the second half and then started the mercy-rule clock with a 60-19 lead with 4:10 remaining in the third quarter.

It was a tough start for Cardinal Wuerl, which only has one returning starter this season.

“What did I get out of this?” asked Trojans' coach Dave Long, rhetorically. “What I got out of this was I should have stayed in DuBois for a tip-off tournament. I have to go home and pick a fight with our (athletic director) for even getting us in the Mars Tournament.”

Tongue-in-cheek aside, Long said he knew the going was going to be tough against the talented Planets, but was pleased with how his defense played, particularly early.

“We had some early opportunities, but had layups that didn't go in,” Long said. “I thought we didn't do a bad job defensively. I knew it was only a matter of time before they started drilling some shots. So, we started well, but our offense just never showed up. Some people are capable of better performances than they had tonight.”

Chris Goetz led the Trojans with eight points.

Freshman Robby Carmody added 14 points for Mars, which will play Ambridge in the championship game at 7:30 p.m. Saturday.

Cardinal Wuerl will take on Penn Hills in the consolation game at 6 p.m. Saturday.

CWNC 43

Tom Brown 2-5 0-0 4, Timon Gribbin 1-5 0-1 3, Vince LeGrand 2-8 2-4 6, Tristen Newcamp 0-3 1-2 1, Chris Goetz 2-5 4-5 8, Ray Stroud 0-0 0-0 0, Servenci 0-0 0-0 0, Jole Matschner 0-1 0-1 0, Damian Mercurio 2-2 0-1 4, Keith Wells 2-4 1-2 5, Laconi 1-2 0-0 3, Ward 0-1 0-0 0, Fukon 2-4 0-0 5, Letronica 1-1 0-0 2, Austin Sieminski 1-1 0-0 2. Totals: 16-43 8-16 43.

MARS 70

Alex Gruber 2-6 0-0 6, John Castello 1-2 1-2 3, Ryan Giallonardo 3-5 1-2 9, Christian Schmitt 5-11 5-6 18, Robby Carmody 5-11 4-5 14, Aaron Gruber 1-1 1-2 3, Nate sablowski 2-3 2-2 6, Mitch Verplank 1-1 0-0 2, Sam Morissey 1-1 0-0 3, Mike Wright 1-1 0-0 2, Noah Tresky 0-1 0-2 0, Nate Rosswog 0-1 0-0 0, Brandt Kepreos 0-2 0-0 0, Hunter Cooper 1-1 0-1 2, Nate Bayuk 0-1 0-0 0, Brent Ashbaugh 0-1 0-0 0, Bailey Trzeciak 0-2 0-0 0, Steve Castello 1-3 0-0 2. Totals: 24-50 14-22 70.

Cardinal Wuerl 4 13 10 16 — 43

Mars15 27 20 8 — 70

3-point goals: CWNC 3 (Gribbin, Laconi, Fukon); Mars 8 (Alex Gruber 2, Giallonardo 2, Schmitt 3, Morissey)

Saturday: Cardinal Wuerl North Catholic vs. Penn Hills, consolation game, 6 p.m.; Ambridge vs. Mars, championship game, 7:30 p.m.