The George Rogers Clark boys basketball team dropped into the consolation bracket of the Republic Bank Holiday Classic with a 76-55 loss to Lexington¿Catholic Friday night.
The host Knights outscored Clark 26-12 in the second quarter and led 32-22 at the break. Clark used a strong third quarter to pull within 50-41, but Catholic pulled away in the final eight minutes, outscoring the Cards 26-14 for the final margin. The Knights advance to the semifinals and will take on Roger Bacon Ohio at 6:30 tonight at Bueter Gym. Clark will play Somerset Christian in a revamped consolation bracket contest at 1:30 today.
“We did a lot of good things and there were a lot of positives we can draw from,” Clark coach Scott Humphrey said.
Clark (4-9) struggled against Catholic’s defensive pressure and committed 19 turnovers and shot a respectable 47.6 percent from the field. The Knights scored 20 points off the Cards’ miscues and connected on seven shots from long range. The hosts led by 27 points at 74-47 at one point in the second half.
The Cards also had a hard time containing Knights standout Jack Whitman, who led all scorers with 22 points. The William and Mary signee made 10 field goals on 11 attempts and grabbed six rebounds. Dillon Avare followed Whitman with 17 points, Tanner Johnson added 15 and Michael Talbott scored 10 off the bench.
Quinn Cornelius paced the Cardinals with 13 points on 5-of-8 shooting from the floor. Malachi Israel made six free throws and drained a 3-pointer and finished with 11 points and Khamarkis Blanton followed with 10 points. Jordan Williams, Braxton Greene and Israel each had a three-pointer for Clark, which got 24 points from its bench.
Lady Cardinals
George Rogers Clark returned to play in the Staxx BBQ Capital City Showdown Friday and split a pair of games.
Clark (4-9) lost a close contest to Richmond Indiana, 48-47, Friday morning, but came back and defeated South Oldham 54-52 late Friday night in the bronze semifinals. The Lady Cards will play DuPont Manual in the bronze finals today at 11:30 a.m. at Franklin County High¿School.
In the win over South Oldham, Sydney Anderson poured in 18 points and Sandra Skinner added 17 to pace the Lady¿Cards, who outscored South Oldham 12-9 in the final quarter to get the win. Kathleen Murphy added eight for Clark in the win.
On Friday morning, Maddie Hamlin and Skinner scored 17 points apiece in the one-point loss.
Clark fell behind 21-9 at the end of the first quarter, but outscored their opponent 38-27 during the last three quarters to make things interesting down the stretch.
Clark guard Lexxus Graham injured her thumb in the first quarter against Richmond and didn’t play the remainder of the contest. She also sat out in the team’s win over South Oldham.
Boys
Clark 10 12 19 14 — 55
Catholic 06 26 18 26 — 76
CLARK¿(4-9) — Warner 2, Caudill 1, M. Isreal 11, Greene 5, Williams 3, Cornelius 13, D. King 2, Blanton 10, J. Israel 2, Sharrock 6.
CATHOLIC (7-4) — Avare 17, Talbott 10, Fraliex 4, Pippen 2, Neuer 2, Johnson 15, Ryan 4, Whitman 22.
Girls
vs. Richmond
Williams 4, Graham 2, Anderson 1, Skinner 17, Murphy 6, Hamlin 17.
vs. South Oldham
Williams 2, Taylor 1, Irvin 2, Anderson 18, Skinner 17, Murphy 8, Hamlin 6.
