WinCity slays Royals in semifinal win
The WinCity Cardinals are one win away from going back to Rupp Arena for the KHSAA Sweet Sixteen.
WinCity traveled to Covington Holmes High School for the 10th Region Semifinals and pulled out a 57-45 win over the Mason County Royals.
The Cardinals jumped out to an early 10-4 lead after a couple buckets by Junior Sam Parrish and Senior Tanner Walton.
The Cardinals defense was spectacular all night, causing problems for Mason County and allowing the Cards to maintain the lead most of the game. The Royals had trouble finding ways to score and WinCity held a 10-7 lead at the end of the first.
Mason County found some offense to start the second quarter, knocking down a three and going on a 5-0 run to take a 12-10 lead and force Coach Cook to take a timeout.
The timeout worked because the Cards took the lead right back going on a 7-0 run of their own and forcing Coach Brian Kirk to take a timeout.
All of the first half was back and forth but the Cardinals were able to secure a one-point lead going into the break.
WinCity extended the lead to five early in the second half and put a limit on Mason County’s buckets, holding them to just six points in the third quarter.
The Cards extended the lead to 9 and had the Royals on the ropes headed into the last quarter.
A Jerone Morton bucket extended the Cardinal lead to 14 to start the fourth quarter. But Mason quickly recovered and cut it to 7 inside the 3-minute mark.
Senior Tanner Walton responded by drilling a three to basically put a dagger in the Royals hopes of a comeback.
Mason County had to foul late and the Cardinals sealed the game after knocking down some free throws.
GRC’s defense was the game decider tonight.
“We held them to 45 points for the game; defense wins championships during post season play,” explained Cook. “Our guys can play whatever style they need to on any given night to give our team the best opportunity to win.”
The Cardinals will face the Bracken County Polar Bears tonight at 7:00 in the Region Championship game.
The last time these teams played the Cardinals won comfortably with a 94-62 win at home.
The Polar Bears like to muck it up and make you play physical, so WinCity will have to be ready to go.
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