The GRC Wincity basketball team survived and advanced against Lyon County Friday night, in a 60-56 win over the Lyons. 

The Cardinals couldn’t make much of anything early, going 2-14 from the floor in the opening quarter, and found themselves trailing 13-6. Finally the shots started to fall, especially from deep. 

After two threes being the Cardinals’ points in the first quarter, GRC hit six more in the second, including three by Sam Parrish. The Cards were 8-16 from behind the arc in the first half, and would finish 12-24 on the night. 

It wasn’t a game where there was one standout player for GRC. Every starter for the Cardinals finished in double figures. Parrish led the team with 15. Trent Edwards and ReShaun Hampton were behind him with 12, Jerone Morton added 11, and Tyleik Maxwell, 10. 

“This shows that we all believe in each other and we trust each other and we can make plays at the right time,” Morton said in the postgame interview. “We all have confidence and love to play together.”

Thanks to the shots starting to fall, the Cardinals were able to build a six-point lead going into the break. Lyon County wouldn’t go away in the second half though.  

GRC built a lead all the way up to eight with right around three minutes to go in the third quarter but every time the Cards would start to build a lead, the Lyons would respond and keep it close, thanks to standout Travis Perry. Overall, GRC contained Perry pretty well as he finished with 19 points, and shot 7-19 from the floor, including four threes. 

Perry hit a three early in the fourth quarter that gave Lyon County a one-point lead and gave them all the momentum, yet GRC remained calm. They forced two straight turnovers and scored four points off them to regain a three-point lead. 

“We have a few adjustments we make when momentum starts swinging.” Head coach Josh Cook said in his postgame interview. “They shot it so well that we had to play a lot of man. We manned for I would say 85-90% of the game, but then we had the option there that we wanted to do something and kind of throw them off track, so we threw a little half court trap.” 

The trap really threw Lyon County for a loop. The Lyons scored just five points from the 6:40 mark all the way to the end of the game, which gave GRC just enough to edge out a victory. Coach Cook was very pleased with how his guys executed the trap at the end of the game. 

“Our guys are really good at it,” he said. “When their minds are right they are really good because they fly around the basketball. It’s something we’ve used in certain games and situations. Our guys made adjustments and made plays, and stepped up, and they found a way to win.”  

Perry hit a three to cut it to two with nine seconds to go in the game but GRC got the ball which made Lyon County foul and sent the Cards to the line. Sam Parrish was the one fouled and he just needed to make at least one to get it to three, which he did. Then he made the second to extend the lead to four and secure the win for GRC.  

Now they’ll face Frederick Douglass, a team that beat GRC 63-52 in early February. Coach Cook said his team will have to make sure they protect the ball.

“We can’t have live ball turnovers,” Cook said. “If you have live ball turnovers, they’re gonna make some nice plays on you. They’re so athletic, so if you have live ball turnovers, they’re gonna beat you in transition — there are just no ifs, ands, or buts about it. We have to take care of the basketball and execute early.” 

Cook wants to make sure his team can get out to a quick start and not get tired early. It’s the Final Four and he wants to make sure his team will empty the tank. 

“The difference between us in the first and second quarter was, in the second quarter, every play we called they executed perfectly,” he said. “We’re gonna have to do that tomorrow, and it can’t be about being tired. We have 24 more hours that we want to play and want to win. We can be tired Sunday, so tomorrow — no excuses. Bring it.”