The George Rogers Clark Cardinals hosted the Frederick Douglass Broncos Tuesday and and came out on top 61-53.

The two teams first met Dec. 29 in the Traditional Bank Holiday Classic at Lexington Catholic and Douglass ran away with a 66-58 victory.

GRC came out looking for revenge and started off scoring the first five points of the game.

With a 7-4 Cardinal lead, GRC then jumped out on a 9-0 run with five of those points coming from Jared Wellman off the bench to extend the lead 16-4.

The Broncos came out of the timeout and chipped away at the lead going on a 8-4 run to end the first quarter as the Cards led 20-12.

GRC picked up right where they left off and went on a 10-0 run to stretch the lead to 18.

Douglass once again was awakened by the timeout and ended the second quarter on a 10-4 run with GRC leading 34-22 at halftime.

The Broncos turned into the Cardinals’ nightmare in the third quarter as they shocked the crowd and managed to pull back into the game.

Douglass cut into the deficit 40-33 to begin the third and only trailed by four points 40-44 going into the fourth quarter.

GRC held on strong in the fourth to escape a late-game scare.

Despite the Bronco’s turnaround in the second half, head coach Josh Cook was pleased with the victory.

“We played pretty good,” he said. “It wasn’t great the whole time and we got tired, but we hung in there. Mentally, we showed some toughness and were able to make some plays when we needed to against an opponent that can get after you for 32 minutes so it was an overall great effort.”

Cook said Douglass was able to make their comeback in the second half because of their relentless energy.

“We missed some easy shots and I think we got tired,” he said. “DaShawn Jackson can really score for them and he put the ball in the hole. Our guys regained composure and our bench stepped up and gave great minutes. We were able to get some fresh legs out there and close it out.”

Cook said he would take a win over the Broncos in February during his team’s prime compared to December when the season has just gotten started.

“It shows how much we improved,” he said. “We handled the press pretty good and sometimes we over dribbled. For the most part, we attacked it and got some great looks.”

GRC will close out the regular Thursday as they host a 22-5 Henry Clay team.

Cook said his team is ready to face the challenge.

Brennan Canada led the way for GRC with 18 points and Lincoln Bush added 14 points off the bench.

GRC will close out the regular Thursday as they host a 22-5 Henry Clay team. Tipoff will be 7:30 p.m. Thursday.

Cook said his team is ready to face the challenge.

“We’re going to watch film Wednesday,” he said. “We’re going to try and come up with a game plan. Ending our regular season against a top-five opponent is a great way to end it.”