George Rogers Clark’s boys basketball team opens up district play with a matchup against rival Paris Friday night.

The Greyhounds have struggled out of the gate, starting the year 1-4. Their lone win was a 25-point victory against Danville Christian. Paris has already played two district games this year, falling to Montgomery County at home and Bourbon County on the road.

Clark County head coach Josh Cook hasn’t lost to Paris since his first year in Winchester when Paris beat the Cards in the district championship. Cook is 6-0 since then, including a rematch in the region championship his next season.

Paris is led by junior guard Ricqiece Washington. Washington is the leading-scorer (8.5 points per game) among returning players from last year’s Greyhounds squad and has more than doubled his scoring output (19.6) through the first five games of this year.

The Cardinals will test the guard’s decision-making abilities with their full-court press. Through five games, the Cardinals have held their opponents to 51 points or fewer four times and only gave up 64 in their other.

GRC is giving up 50.6 points per game, the best in the region. Paris is allowing 70.8 points per game, the third-worst in the region.

The turnover-creating machine that is the Cardinals’ defense has also led to high-scoring offense on the other end. Through five games they have scored 377 points for an average of 75.4 per game. That ranks second-best in the region, behind only the Robertson County Black Devils, whose schedule has been light to start the year.

Paris is scoring at a region-low 47.8 points per game.

The Cardinals and the Greyhounds are scheduled for a 7:30 p.m. tip Friday. The freshman teams will play a game before the varsity teams with a 6 p.m. scheduled tip time.