The George Rogers Clark Cardinals did not get the Valentine’s Day ending they had hoped to have.

GRC faced a tough 11th-Region challenge in the Henry Clay Blue Devils and GRC fell 77-69 in overtime in the final game of the regular season.

Henry Clay scored the first bucket of the game before an and-one by Jordan Graham and a lay in by Jehdon Jenkins on the other end gave GRC a 5-2 lead.

From that point, the Cards turned the ball over four straight possessions and allowed the Blue Devils to snatch a 10-5 lead and led 15-11 at the end of the first quarter.

K.J. Rucker was the spark for GRC off the bench in the second after getting an easy two points off a steal and a three-pointer the next possession to pull the Cardinals back in the game trailing 18-16.

The Blue Devils found their stroke halfway through the second quarter to go on a 12-2 run after nailing four straight threes.

Henry Clay led 35-22 at the half.

GRC looked like a new team in the the second quarter.

After falling behind 45-29, the Cards scrapped their way to cut the lead to single digits as the Blue Devils held on to a 51-42 lead.

Henry Clay led 53-46 at the end of the third quarter.

Rucker continued his hot streak as he nailed a three-pointer with six minutes left to go in the game to knot the score 53-53.

Both teams continued to trade baskets.

With 30 seconds left and the Cards trail 62-60, Jordan Graham got his fingertips on a pass which led to Rucker gaining possession. Rucker kicked the ball ahead to Jared Wellman for a fast break layup to once again knot the score at 62 a piece.

The Blue Devils got a decent look at a three but couldn’t connect the shot.

Rucker also had a chance to drill another three but was blocked and the game was sent into overtime.

Henry Clay handled the pressure on the road and outscored GRC 15-7 in overtime and headed back to Lexington with a win.

With Rucker leading the team in scoring with 16 points off the bench and Graham followed with 14 points, head coach Josh Cook thought his team’s effort was great but admits they did not come prepared in the first half.

“Our effort was there,” he said. “We didn’t play our best by any means but all of our guys played great. Once our guys said ‘let’s win this thing,’ we were really good. We got off to a rough start. They were a tough matchup because they ca n spread you out and make a lot of shots. We woke up in the second half and I’m definitely proud of our effort.”

The Cards finished undefeated in the regular season district play for the second straight year and will face Paris at Bourbon County Tuesday.

Cook said these next four days are going to be focused on the district matchup.

“We’re going to use each day with a different purpose,” he said. “We’ve got a plan Friday and we’ve kind of got a plan Saturday. We want to double check everything possible and get things down pat these next four days to get fine-tuned to get ready. We’ve got a tough first round against Paris.”

Cook said his team has to give their full effort in order to move on through the district tournament.

“We’ve got to get after it,” he said. “We’ve got to be focused for the full 32 minutes and cut everything else out. When it comes to tournament time it has to be high priority where we say we will go out and win this thing. When we get that mentality, I like our chances in district and region.”

Tipoff will be 7:30 p.m. Tuesday vs. Paris at Bourbon County.