Prep Basketball: Stenzel eclipses scoring mark in win over Lafayette

Robbie Stenzel took his turn in the spotlight Friday night.
The George Rogers Clark senior guard was honored for becoming the school’s all-time leading scoring on a 3-pointer with 2:24 remaining in the first quarter and finished with a team-high 19 points to lead the Cardinals to an 80-61 win over Lafayette at Norton Gymnasium.
After being honored, Stenzel tossed the ball to his father, Jay Stenzel, in the stands and returned to business as usual. Stenzel, a senior, has been a regular contributor since his eighth-grade season and broke the previous mark of 1,850 points set by Wes Burtner, son of Winchester Mayor Ed Burtner. Following his performance against the Generals, Stenzel now has 1,949 points in his five-year career.
“When you think about the tradition at Clark County and the people who have played at this school and went on to play at another level, and to be the all-time leading scorer speaks for itself,” he said. “The thing that (stands) out with Robbie is how unselfish he is.”
Stenzel wasn’t aware of the milestone and was surprised he had passed Burtner.
“I had no idea it was coming up, and it came as a big shock to me,” Stenzel said. “I was beyond shocked that I had that many points.”
The Cardinals overcame three ties and 14 lead changes and pulled away from the Generals in the second half after trailing 33-30 at the break.
The Cardinals eliminated the Generals’ hopes for an upset in the second half. Clark opened the third frame with a 13-2 run that turned the three-point deficit into a 43-35 advantage with three minutes remaining in the quarter. Stenzel scored five points, and his brother Bopper Stenzel, contributed with a trey during the decisive spurt.
Humphrey said it didn’t take much to get his squad motivated at halftime.
“They really don’t really need a whole lot of pep talk so to speak,” he said. “They knew we played poorly (in the first half), and we made a couple of
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Sadjustments, but I think we finally started playing a little defense. In the first half, I thought we played a horse contest and Lafayette was making shots and we weren’t doing a lot to take them out of it. But in the second half, I saw a much better effort.”
Clark outscored the Generals 22-8 in the third quarter. Lafayette’s Jackson Davis scored all of his team’s eight points in the third frame and led all scorers with 26 points.
Stenzel expected a fight from the Generals.
“I knew it would be a tough game coming off a loss,” Stenzel said. I’m glad we came out in the second half and did what we had to do (to win).”
Team honored: The school honored its 1986 squad that reached the quarterfinals of the Sweet Sixteen and finished with a 26-6 record and defeated Mason County 62-55 to win the 10th Region Tournament.

Lafayette 18 15 07 21 — 61
Clark 19 1122 28 — 80
LAFAYETTE (8-17) — Johnson 6, Yabrough 8, Evans 2, Davis 26, Johnson 11, Wilkerson 6, Trisko 2.
CLARK (22-5) — Daniel 14, B. Stenzel 6, Howe 2, Stenzel 19, Purvis 11, Zollo 14, Rogers 14.