Robinson handlges Mayfield
12-07-02
BY JACK BULLOCK
BENTON (KY.) - The top ranked team in Class A in Illinois took on one of the top small schools is Kentucky Saturday afternoon at the Marshall County 'Hoopfest' at MCHS. The Maroons, led by the balanced scoring of Brad Lachenmeyr, Nick Brooks and Tyson Schnikter, jumped out to a big early lead and survivied several Mayfield runs to post an 62-51 win.

Led by game MVP Brad Lachenmeyr's 18 points and 12 rebounds, this Crawford County Illinois juggernaut has now won 33-of-34 games going back to last December 7.

However this victory was anything but easy for the Maroons.

Mayfield, which has one of the top small school athletic programs in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, won the Class A state football title the day before in Louisville and had to travel back home to get ready for this game against Robinson.

Robinson All-State shoe-in Nick Brooks and teammate Tyson Schnikter added 18 each to the 54-point total of this talented trio. Robinson jumped out early on the Cardinals in the first few minutes.

Brooks scored the first two times he touched the ball; first on a nice runner in the lane then again from the left baseline for a 4-0 lead.

After a 3-pointer by Mayfield's Raphael Kendrick got the Cards on the board, Lachenmeyr scored four straight points from in the lane and Schnikter added a short jumper as Robinson scored points on three straight trips that forged a 11-3 Maroon lead and forced a Mayfield timeout with 3:40 left.

However this stoppage in play did little to slow down the Maroons. Schnikter scored again from in close to push the lead to 13-3.

Mayfield's Tienne England hit on a lay in, but Robinson again went on a short scoring binge. Kent Tedford hit his only two-point field goal of the game on the next trip and Lachenmeyr hit a transition lay up at the 1:22 mark.

Mayfield missed some opportunities to close the gap in the final minute of the quarter and subsequently, Schnikter closed out the frame with a 15-footer to make the Maroon lead a commanding one 19-5 at the first horn.

Kendrick hit a shot in the lane but Brooks countered by canning his only 3-pointer of the game to push Robinson to its biggest advantage of the game at 22-7.

After a Robinson timeout, Mayfield made its first run at Robinson and quickly got back into the contest. Jerome Saxton hit a jumper from the right side followed by back-to-back 'trifecta's' by England and Kendrick to cut the lead to 23-12.

Brooks hit the front end of a two-shot opportunity from the line. His second shot missed but Lachenmeyr got the rebound and stuck it back in the basket for a 26-15 lead.

But back came the Cardinals with the next six points.

Saxton hit 1-of-2 from the line and then England shook loose for another 3-point bomb.

A steal and lay in by Justin Shoales forced Robinson coach Gus Gillespie to burn another timeout at 2:44 left before the half.

"I guess it is human nature to let up sometimes when you get a lead. But when you do it against a good team, they are going to make a run at you." said Gillespie, who is in his fourth year at the school. "However I think the kids showed a lot of toughness today and they responded to every run that they (Mayfield) made."

Brooks made a strong move underneath the basket on the Maroons first possession after the timeout to make it 28-21.

After a Kendrick 10-foot shot, Robinson scored the final five points of the half.

Schnikter hit his only 3-point attempt to push the lead back to eight and then Lachenmeyr put in a short one-hander after getting a nice pass from Schnikter.

That shot with :05 left to made it 33-23 at the intermission.

The Cardinals made another run at Robinson to start the third stanza. Kendrick and Shoales scored on consecutive trips to cut it to 33-27 and that forced another Robinson time out.

Schnikter scored a transition basket on the first possession after the timeout for the Maroons, but Mayfield scored the next five points on a Kendrick's jumper and then another 3-pointer to make it 36-32 Robinson at the 5:35 mark.

The games MVP then made his own personal run, with a little help from Brooks, to keep Mayfield at bay for the remainder of the quarter.

The 6-7 Lachenmeyr hit a soft one-hander in the paint on a pass from Brooks.

Then Brooks scored in transition on an assist by Schnikter, which was followed by another short shot from Lachenmeyr to push the lead back to 44-32.

Kendrick tipped in a miss and Schnikter followed that up with another lay in and the lead was 46-34.
The Maroons held the ball after a Mayfield miss for the last :49 seconds of the quarter.

But a steal by Saxton and a pass to Kendrick resulted in a quarter ending one-handed slam to make it 46-36 heading into the final frame.

Starting the fourth quarter, Brooks hit a short one hander from the baseline to open the scoring.

But this just got the flow going as these two teams' went on a basket-trading frenzy.

Kendrick's hit a 12-footer from the left side; then Robinson's Brad Shaner scored his only bucket of the game on a pass from Brooks.

Then it was England again with a runnning 10-footer made it 50-40 Robinson with 6:59 left.

After Schnikter scored on a jumper to make the lead 12 again, Mayfield made another move to get within six.

Saxton again scored in the lane and, following a Robinson miss, Kendrick scored on a baseline reverse laying that once again made Gillespie want to talk it over with his troops at the 5:37 mark.

Saxton scored on the first possession after the time on a rebound put back to make it 52-46.

However Brooks responded with a running shot in the lane.

After the Maroons came up with a stop on the defensive end, Schnikter found Tedford open from the right side of the arc. His 3-point bomb pushed the lead back to 57-46.

"We have two players that get a lot of ink but out other kids can play, too.

Lachenmeyr has really improved his overall game, Tedford has hit some big shots for us and Shaner had 24 for us against Teutopolis at the Capital Classic." added Gillespie, who talked about his team having more than just Brooks and Schnikter.

Mayfield once again put more pressure on the Maroons as Kendrick scored the final five points for the Cardinals on a rebound of his own shot and final 3-pointer to cut the lead to 57-51 with 1:37 left in the game. Mayfield then was forced to foul and put the Maroons on the line.
Brooks and Schnikter hit 3-of-4 on their two trips to the charity stripe to push the lead back out to 60-51.
The icing on the cake for Robinson came when Mayfield, while passing the ball on the perimeter looking for a 3-point shot, had it stolen by Schnikter.

The 6-0 senior showed he could get off the floor as he put down a 'one-handed slam', which finished the scoring and secured the Maroons victory.

Mayfield (1-1) was led by Kendrick, who posted a game-high 28 points.

England added 10 for the Cardinals while Saxton and Shoales chipped in with seven and four points respectively.

Derrick Parrott, one of the top players on the Mayfield hoop squad, missed the game after leading his football team the day before.

The Cardinals running back carried the ball 33 times for 157 yards and scored the winning touchdown in the 14-7 victory Friday but was too banged up for action against Robinson.

"He came to me before the game and told me he couldn't go." explained Mayfield head coach Chris Guhy. "His ankles took a beating yesterday and he just couldn't do it today."

As for Robinson, coach Guhy was very impressed.

"They (Brooks and Schnikter) were everything I thought they were." said Guhy. "We were a little out of sync today but that is not an excuse. We got beat by a good team today."

The Maroons road doesn't get much easier as they will travel to St. Louis for the KMOX/Shop and Save Shootout at the Savis Center next Thursday when they will take on DeSoto, Missouri.