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Prep Basketball: Cards rested, ready for Royals
By Keith Taylor/Sun Sports Editor
March 8, 2010

MAYSVILLE — George Rogers Clark needed a day to get past a hard-fought 44-38 triumph over Covington Scott.

Following a day of rest, the Cards will take on Mason County in the finals of the 10th Region Tournament at 7:30 p.m. tonight at the Fieldhouse at Mason County. The Royals earned a spot in the finals with a 65-52 victory over Pendleton County in the second semifinal contest Saturday night.

The trip to the finals will mark the Cards’ third appearance in five years. The Royals defeated Clark 51-43 in last year’s championship game. In the last regional tournament at the Fieldhouse, Clark posted a 63-59 win over the Royals in 2007.

Mason defeated Clark in the semifinals in 2008 at Montgomery County and in the finals last season.

It also was Clark coach Scott Humphrey’s third win in the region semifinals during a five-year stretch over Scott, led by Humphrey’s former assistant coach and close friend Brad Carr. The two coached together at Simon Kenton.

“It’s exactly what we anticipated,” Humphrey said afterward. “We knew it would be a four-quarter, 32-minute game that would come down to who made some plays at the end. We did enough to get the win — that’s about all you can say.”

Carr and the Eagles (18-10) made Clark (26-6) earn a ticket to the finals the hard way. Clark overcame 13 turnovers and a poor performance from the field. The Cards, who rolled to a 77-31 win over Harrison County in the opening round, struggled against the physical Eagles and shot just 26 percent from the field. Clark made five shots from long range, which provided a cushion at various times between the two region foes.

“It’s a game we needed going into the championship game,” Clark junior Vinny Zollo said afterward. “We’ve been used to blowing teams out and we (beat) Covington Scott (which) is in our eyes, the second best team in the region. They’re a tough team. We don’t know how we won exactly, but we won and that’s all that matters.”

Clark (26-6) led for most of the contest, but the Eagles took a 33-32 lead with 2:40 left. On the next possession, the Cards regained the lead for good on a 3-pointer by Jaylen Daniel from the left corner.

“No question (that was a big shot),” Humphrey said. “How rewarding that is for Jaylen. He’s shot thousands and thousands of three-point shots since last March. That’s a shot that no way he would have taken last year. He’s worked his tail-end off to develop that shot and it’s really rewarding when you see a kid do that.”

From that moment on, it was all Clark. Scott was slapped with a technical foul, which resulted in a four-point swing for the Cards and pushed the margin to 39-33 with 1:41 remaining.

“That doesn’t help,” Carr said of the technical. “It was a heck of a game. My hat goes off to them. The better team won today.”

Zollo led the Cardinals with 13 points and 10 rebounds. Robbie Stenzel chipped in with 11 points for the Cards.

Clark pulled away in the fourth quarter by outscoring the Eagles 21-15.

Scott 05 09 09 15 — 38

Clark 10 07 06 21 — 44

SCOTT (18-10) — Haynes 3, Smith 15, Niederegger 12, O’Connor 4, Jones 4.

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