Cardinals win big in return to court

Published 10:04 pm Thursday, January 18, 2018

It’s been a while since the George Rogers Clark High School boys basketball team has hit the hardwood, but the Cardinals didn’t take long to get going in a 78-42 win over Rowan County Thursday night at home.

The Cards had last competed Jan. 9 in a win over Harrison County. Snow and weather forced  a number of postponements and cancellations until they finally got a chance to play Thursday.

They were ready to go — scoring the first nine points of the game and holding Rowan County without a point until midway through the first quarter.

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GRC had 10 different players score and four were in double figures.

“They’re playing unselfish and everyone is taking the shot they should,” GRC coach Josh Cook said. “If you only have one or two kids scoring then coming tournament time, if they aren’t scoring you’re in trouble.”

Will Philpot led the Cardinals with 14 points while Brennan Canada and Jared Wellman each had 12 points apiece.

Chase Taylor added 10 points while KJ rucker put in eight. Jordan Graham and Ryan Cooper each scored seven points.

The win is the fifth straight for the Cardinals, who have won 12 of their past 13 games, improving their record to 15-3.

Rowan County got a game-high 15 points from Ryan Mullen, who scored all his points on five 3-pointers. Beady Madden added 14 points.

The Vikings fall to 9-8.

It won’t be long before GRC sees Rowan County again. The Vikings are set to take part in the Tim Short Automotive Classic at Letcher Norton Gymnasium Saturday.

That event will feature four games starting at 1 p.m. when the GRC girls basketball team takes on Lincoln County.

The Vikings will face North Laurel (14-2) at 3 p.m. Montgomery County (7-8) takes on Knott County Central (13-3) at 5 p.m

In the night cap, the host Cardinals will square off against Pulaski County (12-3).

Those rescheduled games have been set. GRC takes on Frankfort in the MLK Jr. Classic at 4:30 p.m. Jan. 17. The Cardinals will also travel to Bourbon Jan. 29 and Montgomery County Feb. 8.