The George Rogers Clark Cardinals came out with a 57-46 victory over Madison Central Tuesday in the Cardinals’ first home game of the season.

GRC started out hot as they started the game with an 11-1 lead as Central was forced to call a timeout to slow down the pace.

Jordan Graham scored the first basket of the game with a floater off the glass and went on to drain two threes the next two possessions for a quick nine points in under two minutes.

Graham finished the first quarter with 13 points and finished the first half with 15.

Central’s drive-and-kick game pulled the game back within reach as they found open shooters behind the arc to knock down threes.

The Cards managed to stretch the lead back out in the second quarter as they went on an 11-0 run to go up 31-20 and ended the first half with a 33-22 lead.

GRC continued to control the pace from there.

Head coach Josh Cook thought his team did a good job overall.

“It was a good win,” he said. “I was really proud defensively. Our game plan was good and so was our effort. I think our depth played to our advantage. There are some things I want to clean up and do better, but it is definitely a step in the right direction.”

GRC bounced back from a 57-48 loss to Campbell County on the road last Friday.

Cook said his team did a better job of staying on the same page and working together than they did against Campbell.

“We did a good job of communicating,” he said. “It needs to keep improving. I thought it was better, though. After the first three or four minutes of the game I thought our guys had an excellent stretch of communicating in the second quarter. We have to close that up though and the fourth quarter needs to be played like every possession matters. Our guys showed some character and some growth tonight.”

In the third game of the season, Cook is proud of his team so far.

“I told them they have been through a lot already,” he said. “I told them they are nowhere near where they need to be. We are still climbing which is a good thing and are looking to improve. If we can continue to do that over the next few months then it will really help us improve.”

The Cards will get an early season test Friday as they will host UK commit Dontaie Allen and Pendleton County Friday.

Cook said the game will be a battle.

“We are going to have to guard and be solid on the inside,” he said. “When you play a player like Dontaie, not one player will be able to stop him. We are going to have to do a good job of team defense. We are going to have two great practices and come up with a game plan. They have two or three other players who can play too so we need to make sure we are ready to go out and execute.

Graham led all scorers with 19 points, shot 4-5 from deep and pitched in four assists.

GRC will host Pendleton County 7:30 p.m. Friday.