The Coach Ryan Report

By Ryan Hoots

February 8th, 2024

I was at George Rogers Clark High School in Winchester, Kentucky Wednesday night. GRC has had a good run as of late as they won the KHSAA Sweet 16 in 2022 and finished Runner Up last year in 2023, losing in a heart breaker to Warren Central. Tonight, the Cardinals were put in a cage against the Madison Southern Eagles. The matchup featured the Eagles verified bucket Jay Rose, a senior with a slew of offers to play at the next level. The Cards will tout lone returning starter from last year’s squad, 5’11” G Reshaun Hampton, a senior lefty who holds a lone offer from Midway University. This was the best matchup of the night in the Commonwealth in my opinion and would have immediate implications on the quickly approaching Sweet 16. I feel the need to compliment the GRC facilities as owning some of the finest in the state (if not the country). There are Division 1 arenas with less amenities that GRC hosts. Good job to the Clark County Board of Education for designing such a magnificent venue in this behemoth of a school built only a few short years ago.

I noticed right away in warm ups that Jay Rose from Southern was flying high like an Eagle (queue Space Jam) and was keen to provide the early arriving crowd with a dazzling dunking display. The Cards looked focused on the task at hand as they have somewhat flown under the radar and are currently sitting at a 23-1 record (and would be undefeated if they had 3 more points against South Laurel, this game is cruel sometimes). Despite losing 4 starters to diplomas, Coach Josh Cook has not lowered the standards on his young squad as they have Rupp expectations.

The game started with the Cards jumping out to a quick 7 point lead just one minute into the game. Jay Rose finally had an answer on the offensive end with a right corner 3 to stop the bleeding for the Eagles with 6:33 remaining to make the score 7-3. The Cardinals remained flying….no pun intended… and quickly added another 9 points off of a Montez Gay two-handed rim rattler, 16-5 Cards with 2:32 remaining in the first quarter. Hampton hit Gay in a beautiful feed from a baseline drive on the right side for another dunk forcing a Madison Southern timeout. Out of the timeout the Cardinals got possession and added another quick bucket from JP Gaines. The Eagles were able to match buckets with GRC for the next 6 minutes until JP Gaines advised a Southern defender that he might need a helmet with a thundering 1 handed transition jam to give GRC a 36-22 lead with 3:02 before the break. Momentum was heavily swinging in the way of the red when Hampton nailed back-to-back 3 point shots to widen the Cardinals advantage to 24 with just over a minute left before they headed to the locker room. This GRC team is very good, you don’t need an entire game report to know that. It is amazing that they have been this quiet in the high school rankings. With this much young talent, I have a feeling they will be making the noise we are all used to hearing from Win City in the coming years.

The second half was more of the same story starting with Hampton hitting Brenden in transition to make it an 18 point advantage with 4 minutes to play in the 3rd quarter. Southern didn’t give up as 1/2 of the Hudson twins, Braden, tickled the twine to bring his Eagles within 15. Hudson, who looked to be the recipient of the cupping treatment made famous by Michael Phelps at the London Olympics, has hustled the entire game, never giving up on a play which is a coaches dream. Brenden Morrison scored to prompt a timeout in which it was announced that he just surpassed 1,000 Career Points in the KHSAA. Congrats, Brenden. Keep up the good work! We went into the deciding quarter with the Cardinals holding a 10 point lead at 54-44 in a game that really didn’t feel that close.

The Eagles began the final quarter with possession. They took advantage on a clutch corner three from the other half of the Senior Hudson Twins, Zach, to narrow the score 54-47 Clark County with 7:55 remaining. Jay Rose got into the mix converting a physical And-1 at the basket for 3 points the old fashioned way to make the score 56-50. The momentum in Winchester had shifted, GRC was officially on upset alert. The Eagles cooled off a bit as a Jay Rose three pointer was blocked by Gay and quickly converted for a transition bucket by Breland Morrison. Southern drew a charge on Ashford….yes that’s still a rule, and needed an answer with 4 1/2 remaining as they were down 10 and running out of time. They failed to do so on a Rose mid-range jumper and Gay made them pay, scoring 2 underneath to widen the gap to 12 with 3:50 remaining. One thing is certain, this GRC team likes to play fast, and in transition (they are good at it too). Hampton hit a deep 3 from the right corner that felt like a dagger inside of the Cardinal Arena as the lead widened to a sigh of relief from the Cardinal faithful. Southern fought the entire game but was outmatched by the Cardinals who are having a season to remember in Winchester. The Cardinals move to 24-1 with a victory in this one, 72-54.