The defending state champs will be headed back to Rupp Arena with a chance to defend their title after a 54-42 win over the Mason County Royals Tuesday night. 

The win last night means the Cards have now become the first 10th Region boys team to win four straight region crowns since Maysville from 1945-1948. They also now have a record of 60-2 against 10th Region opponents in the last four years, and in the last two years are 30-0 and have won all of them by double digits. 

Head Coach Josh Cook was super proud of his team last night and getting the experience of winning four straight region titles. “It’s pretty surreal,” he told WWKY in his postgame comments. “I’m just super proud of our guys. I mean they had opportunities where they had to face some adversity, and do things, and do them together. It’s a pretty awesome experience though and I know our guys are going to be focused and ready to go next week.”  

The Cardinals were able to lead most of the game, until the very end of the third quarter when Terrell Henry made an and-one for the Royals to give them a one-point lead for a split second. Then Jerone Morton drove to the lane and drew and and-one himself to give the Cardinals a two-point lead going into the final quarter of play. 

It was all GRC in the fourth quarter as the Cards reached a lead as large as 14 in the final minutes, outscoring the Royals 20-10. GRC looked like a team that had been in a position like that before; they were the better team, and stayed composed to pull away late. 

A big reason the Cards were able to pull away at the end was their defense. GRC forced 14 turnovers on the night and 11 of them were in the second half. The Cards were able to get 12 points off turnovers compared to 5 for the Royals.

The zone helped the Cards keep the Royals from having a great shooting night, holding them to just under 36% from the field. GRC tonly turned the ball over seven times and were able to shoot 50% from the field.

Coach Cook played a lot of 2-3 zone and was very pleased with his game plan defensively. “You gotta have some stuff that you can be willing to change, and it can’t be about you as a coach,” he said. “You’ve gotta be able to say this is what I want to do, and make adjustments and see how it ends up. I’m just thankful enough it was able to work.”  

It was the senior Morton once again leading the Cardinals in scoring with 20 points and also getting seven boards. Reshaun Hampton and Trent Edwards put up 12 points each. It was Tyleik Maxwell who was great on the boards and played really well, especially defensively, leading the team in rebounds with eight. 

In what was a crazy environment where Clark County was going to need a lot of fans in order to make up for such a large Mason County fanbase presence, the fanbase sure did their part and showed up. 

Coach Cook was thankful for the fanbase’s support and thought the environment was great. “It was a pretty awesome experience,” he said. “It was intense, but Winchester showed up. Our fans were here tonight and they could be heard. Tremendous difference, tremendous.” 

Now GRC will play Kentucky commit Reed Sheppard and North Laurel in the first round of the state tournament next Thursday night, with Lyon County and Newport right above them on the bracket.

It’ll be a challenging path for the Cards to get back to the championship game, but it’s the state tournament, where every game is a challenge.