Bluegrassrivals

Game 4: Clark County cruises past Apollo
Published March 14, 2012 Basketball Closed
Clark County won an opening round game in the Sweet Sixteen for the second year in a row as it rolled by Apollo 56-36 Wednesday night in Rupp Arena.

The Cards (31-5) advance to play No. 1 Trinity (32-3) in Friday’s quarterfinals.

Adam Fatkin, a 6-foot-7 senior, led Clark County with 21 points, 7 blocked shots and 5 assists. Taylor Howard added 15 points, 4 rebounds and 4 assists. The Cards shot 50% (20-for-40) and had just 3 turnovers.

Apollo was led by Sam Sergeant’s 10 points. Michael Berry had 8 points and 7 rebounds. Hunter Bivin added 6 points and 3 rebounds. The Eagles finished with a 17-15 record.

http://www.kentucky.com/high_school/#navlinks=navdrop

No shock here, but Apollo made a great run all the way to a state tournament appearance.


Congrats Clark Co, good luck on Friday.

Stardust Wrote:[Image: 10cUgo.AuSt.79.jpg]

Scott needs some help with that tie. If not careful he's going to trip on that thing.

Elizabeth will have to tie it for him next time.

LEXINGTON — George Rogers Clark wasn't rattled in its return to Rupp Arena.

The Cardinals advanced to the quarterfinals with a 56-36 victory over Owensboro Apollo in the opening round of the PNC Bank KHSAA Boys Sweet 16 Wednesday night.

Clark (31-5) will take on Louisville Trinity at 1:30 p.m. Friday in the state quarterfinals. The Shamrocks defeated Bullitt East 52-32 in the third of four first-round games Wednesday. Apollo, the surprise winner out of the 3rd Region, finished the season with a 17-15 mark.

Despite an eight-day layoff, the Cards picked up where they left off following a 61-39 victory over Mason County in the 10th¿Region finals last week. Apollo scored single digits in three of the four quarters, while

Clark limited the Eagles to just two shots from long range, with one player finishing in double figures.

“It was kind of indicative of how we’ve played all year long,” Clark coach Scott Humphrey said afterward.

“There were times on the offensive end to where it doesn’t come real easy for us, but from the time the ball goes up and there are three zeroes on the scoreboard, we’re pretty good defensively. We relied on that again tonight.”

Clark seniors Adam Fatkin and Taylor Howard carried the load for Clark and weren't fazed by playing on the big stage. Fatkin and Howard combined for 36 points, with Fatkin paving the way with 21 points and five rebounds. Fatkin added seven blocks.

“We just wanted to come out and take it just like any other game,” Fatkin said.

Howard agreed.

“We never really paid any attention to the crowd once the game started,” he said.

Fatkin was named Kentucky National Guard Player of the Game following the contest.

Howard, a senior newcomer, followed Fatkin with 15 points and made all three of his shots from long range.

Fatkin connected on his first three field goals and scored eight of Clark's first 12 points. While Fatkin carried the scoring load in the first eight minutes, Taylor Howard picked up where Fatkin left off in the second frame.

The senior guard scored eight points in the quarter, all during an 11-4 run by Clark in the final 5:19 of the first half. Howard knocked down a couple of 3-pointers and added a putback on a missed free-throw attempt by Fatkin. The brief spurt by Clark turned a 15-10 lead into a 26-14 advantage at the break.

“Defensively, we made it tougher for them to score and we just kind of wait on our run to come,” Humphrey said. “We were able to hit some shots and Taylor was huge there in the second quarter. Bopper was able to carry us a little bit early.”

Fatkin led Clark with 11 points in the first half and added three blocks.

“Adam carried us early to keep the flow going,” he said. “We were able to ride those guys (the rest of the way).”

Charlie Rogers followed Fatkin and Howard with 11 points.

“He’s decided to grow up this year and he’s just been a rock for us,” Humphrey said. “His maturity has allowed us to go from a good team to a state tournament playing on Friday-type team.”

The Eagles managed just two field goals and six points in the second quarter. Clark forced the Eagles into 14 turnovers, with 12 of those coming in the first half.

http://www.centralkynews.com/winchesters...1194.story

Clark 12 14 14 16 — 56
Apollo 08 06 13 09 — 36

CLARK¿(31-5) — Rogers 11, Fatkin 21, Stenzel 4, Howard 15, Blanton 4, Gray 1.
APOLLO (17-15) — Shelton 4, Berry 8, Bivin 6, Sargeant 10, Porter 2, Tutt 6.

Defense told the tale in Clark County's 56-36 win over Apollo in Wednesday's opening round of the PNC/KHSAA Boys' State Tournament.

"Kind of indicative of how we've played all year — there's times on the offensive end where it just doesn't come very easy for us," winning coach Scott Humphrey said. "But from the time the ball goes up to the three zeroes (on the clock) come up, we're pretty good defensively. We relied on that again tonight."

With a second-session attendance of 15,107 in Rupp Arena, 6-foot-6 senior Adam Fatkin led the Cardinals with 21 points and five rebounds. He also blocked seven shots.

"Adam Fatkin did a great job," said Apollo's 6-6½ , 290-pound Hunter Bivin. "He had a great defensive night. I felt like almost running into a brick wall there trying to back him in. He's a lot stronger than he looks."

With seven wins in a row, the Cardinals (31-5) will meet top-ranked Trinity in Friday's quarterfinals. The Shamrocks advanced with a 52-32 win over Bullitt East.

"Trinity's a very special, special team," Humphrey said. "They've been the No. 1 team in the state since Oct. 15. ... And they proved tonight that they deserve that.

"Our whole focus is to be No. 1 for about a two-hour gap on Friday."

Clark County also got 15 points, four rebounds and four assists from Taylor Howard. Charlie Rogers had 11 points and four rebounds.

Bopper Stenzel had four points and four assists, running an offense that made only three turnovers.

Sam Sergeant led the Eagles (17-15) with 10 points. Michael Berry had eight points and seven rebounds.

"We expected them to be a very aggressive man-to-man on our offense and they were," said Coach Steve Sergeant, Sam's father. "They did what got them here — they played defense.

"They played it aggressively and they were physical, made it hard for our offense to be initiated on the wing pass. So we had to make some considerations as far as our offense was concerned and by that time we had 12 turnovers at half. They played the way they wanted, and they set the tone on defense, there's no doubt about that."

Clark County never trailed en route to a 26-14 halftime lead, although Apollo was tied at 2.

Fatkin shot 5-for-9 and had 11 first-half points.

"We just wanted to come out and take it like any other game," Fatkin said. "Just play our hardest."

Overall, the Cardinals shot 10-for-22 (45.5 percent) in the half, compared to Apollo's 5-for-14 (35.5).

Clark County also hurt the Eagles with turnovers, with a 12-3 advantage. The Cards had a 12-0 margin in points-off-turnovers.

Apollo was able to stay as close as 12 mostly because of a 17-9 advantage in rebounds, with Berry grabbing five.

Leading 12-8 through one quarter, Clark County scored the last five points of the half to mount its biggest lead, 12 points. Fatkin started that mini-spree with a basket on the low post, and Howard drained a three-pointer with five seconds left.

Clark County led by as many as 16 in the third quarter, and was up 40-27 heading into the fourth period.

The closest Apollo came after that was 48-36 when Sergeant hit a three-pointer with 4:50 left.

Those were the Eagles' last points, and Clark County scored the last eight points.

Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/2012/03/14/21104...rylink=cpy

The Cardinals committed 3 turnovers while forcing 14 and shot 50% from the field. Great game by the Cards. Many predicted the Cards would win, but not by 20 to my knowledge. Adam Fatkin was named player of the game.

GRC was my pick to win. I hope they can pull off the upset against Trinity.

Gold Charger Wrote:The Cardinals committed 3 turnovers while forcing 14 and shot 50% from the field. Great game by the Cards. Many predicted the Cards would win, but not by 20 to my knowledge. Adam Fatkin was named player of the game.

Nope, picked them by 19.LOL. I said 74 -55 in the prediction thread.

MVP2 Wrote:Nope, picked them by 19.LOL. I said 74 -55 in the prediction thread.

You did great then. But we usually don't score that high. Try and keep our opponent to under 48 points....that is our average of PPG.

Stardust, pictures are great!!!!