The presence of a heated rivalry was felt in the air Thursday night as the George Rogers Clark Cardinals took on the Bourbon County Colonels in the 40th District tournament.

GRC swept Bourbon in the regular season and came out on top 75-72 in a double overtime thriller.

Bourbon used home court to their advantage and jumped out on a 5-0 run nailing a three and turned a Cardinal turnover into an easy lay up.

GRC woke up after a few possessions to go on an 8-0 run to pull themselves back into the game.

Neither team could stretch the lead further than six before the other would pull the game back within reach.

It was all knotted up at 32 a piece at halftime.

A few minutes into the third quarter, the Colonels started to cook up and stretched out the lead after an 8-0.

The Cards quickly answered going on an 8-0 run themselves before Bourbon drilled a three at the third quarter buzzer to go up 52-49.

The fourth quarter was no different as both teams traded baskets to send the game into overtime.

Bourbon almost silenced GRC’s crowd after the inbounded on the other end with 1.2 ticks remaining in overtime and launched a full-court pass down to the other end.

The Bourbon player caught it and had a clean look at the basket from three but the ball rimmed out to send the game into double overtime.

In double overtime, GRC’s K.J. Rucker dribbled the length of the court with only 10 seconds remaining and lost control.

The ball rolled into Jordan Graham’s possession where he was wide open for three and knocked down the shot to crush the Colonel’s hopes.

Cards fans stormed the court to celebrate with the players.

Four GRC players scored in double digits with Brennan Canada leading the way with 20 points, Graham added 18 points, Jehdon Jenkins tallied 17 points and Jared Wellman totaled 12 points.

Head coach Josh Cook said his team stepped up and made plays when they needed to which allowed them to steal the win.

“Definitely proud to come out and get a win,” he said. “It was definitely a ride. Hopefully this will give us momentum. It’s games like this where you win by stepping up and making plays at the end. I know our kids are excited but we are going to regain focus this weekend and write another chapter next week.”

GRC fell in a hole where they trailed six to eight points multiple times in the game.

Cook said not once did his team give up and their effort paid off.

“We tried to get stops and make plays,” he said. “At some point it comes down to effort and a bit of guts. You’re going to fail and make mistakes in games like this. I was really proud of our guys hanging in there. They kept believing and they found a way.”

Cook said they will enjoy their Friday off but will be returning to work all weekend.

“We’re going to go to the draw Saturday and then practice Saturday night,” he said. “Sunday night we will practice too. We’re going to rest our legs and let the momentum wear off a little bit. It’s going to be a great region tournament and I believe Bourbon County has as good of a chance as anybody else. We’re going to try and get focused and try to make a run.”

Graham, Canada, Jenkins and Wellman were honored for the All-District Team.

Graham, Canada and Jenkins were honored for the All-Tournament Team.

The 10th Region match ups will be announced Saturday morning.