George Rogers Clark’s boys basketball team competed in the final game of Saturday’s Tim Short Automotive Classic as they took on the East Jessamine Jaguars.

The Cardinals opened the game still on fire from behind the arc after shooting more than 40 percent as a team in their previous game. Jerone Morton and Jared Wellman each hit a pair of triples in the opening period as the Cards had a 20-9 lead heading into the second.

Morton continued his excellent 3-point shooting into the second quarter, knocking down two more threes to extend the Clark County lead to 32-17.

That was the largest lead of the day for either team, and East Jessamine was determined to get back into the game. A quick 7-0 run had the game back to single digits. Each team would score seven more points, putting the score at 39-31 at halftime.

The three-point shooting flipped in the second half and the Jaguars started to hit while the Cardinals started to cool off.

“We go cold but we also stop attack mode,” GRC head coach Josh Cook said. “We get a little tired because we press so much. That’s where our bench comes in, we’re trying to play the bench to get our legs right. But when we get a little tired, it takes away our aggressiveness. The threes we hit are usually off drive-and-kicks or in transition. Sometimes we’re letting that ball stick when we get tired. We go cold, but that’s part of it. When you shoot a lot of threes, it’s kind of come and go.”

GRC held around an eight-point lead for most of the second half until the Jaguars went on a run late in the fourth quarter, cutting the GRC lead to 63-60 with two minutes to play.

But the Cardinals would lock in to close the game on a 7-0 run to secure their 10th win of the season.

“We got focused toward the end. It got a little tight, but I didn’t really hit the panic button. They didn’t hit the panic button either,” Cook said. “Credit to East Jessamine, they fought hard and they’re well-coached. But I thought in the last few minutes our guys figured out they’ve got to make stops. They’ve got to make plays. When we do that, I think we’re really good.”

Wellman was named the Tim Short Automotive Classic Player of the Game for his performance and Cook earned his 200th career win as a head coach.

The Cardinals are back in action Tuesday, Jan. 7 as they take on Powell County in a freshman/junior varsity/varsity tripleheader. Varsity action is scheduled to tip off at 7:30 p.m.