George Rogers Clark’s boys basketball team traveled to Lexington Friday afternoon to compete in the Central Bank Classic at Lexington Christian Academy.

The Cardinals came into the game following their largest defeat of the season and had something to prove early.

GRC took on the West Jessamine Colts in the tournament’s opening game and was able to jump out to an early 16-point lead in the first quarter, but the Colts wouldn’t give up.

A 16-4 run to end the quarter gave cut Clark County’s lead to two points by the first buzzer.

“We just got a little too relaxed and they got aggressive,” GRC head coach Josh Cook said. “We made some turnovers and we let it get to us mentally. They hurt on the glass in the first half too. Once we decided we were going to be aggressive and attack the glass, that was the difference in the ball game.”

The Cardinals were outrebounded 24-14 in the first half, but cut the margin to 40-32 by the end of the game.

The Colts continued their run into the second quarter, taking the lead within the first minute and holding onto it for the remainder of the half. The Cardinals’ dry spell hurt them, but they kept it within six points throughout the quarter.

“[Coming out of halftime] I just wanted them to respond and be coachable,” Cook said. “I’m not saying I’m always going to make the right calls, but I have so much trust in you, I want you to have that trust for me. If they understand we’re going to do this together, we’re only going to get better.”

The Cardinals came out in the second half and regained the lead, but the Colts’ 3-point shooting was able to keep them in the game. After going 3-5 from downtown in the first half, they shot an even better 5-7 in the second half.

“They haven’t shot the ball real well this season but they shot it well today. Maybe that’s just our luck, if you play us you’ll get into a rhythm,” Cook said. “But that’s something we’ve got to adjust to in the game and we tried to that.”

Trailing by two points entering the game’s final period, GRC went on a run to start the fourth quarter to avoid a second-consecutive loss.

The first six points of the quarter went to Clark County and they wouldn’t look back.

A large part of their late game success was from Lincoln Bush, who was working hard on both ends of the floor to help lead the team to a victory.

“When he hangs in there and doesn’t get overly frustrated about a few things, he’s really good,” Cook said. “At halftime I said, ‘seniors, you’ve got to act like seniors’ and it’s true. They’ve got to be the most consistent minds out there. If they do that we’re really good.”

GRC will play again today at 6:15 p.m. in the second round of the Central Bank Classic at LCA.