Recap: Madison Central @ George Rogers Clark
Two powerhouse teams out of the Tenth and Eleventh Regions faced off in Winchester tonight. Intriguing college prospects and well known coaches brought a great crowd, fans surely weren’t let down. Clark County Cardinals ended up winning this game 57-46…
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Continue ReadingTwo powerhouse teams out of the Tenth and Eleventh Regions faced off in Winchester tonight. Intriguing college prospects and well known coaches brought a great crowd, fans surely weren’t let down. Clark County Cardinals ended up winning this game 57-46 against a well coached Madison Central squad. Here is a recap on how the night went…
George Rogers Clark got off to a hot start, going on a 10-1 run early into the first quarter. After some starters got into some early foul trouble, GRC allowed Madison Central to claw their way back into contention ending the first quarter with a score of 17-9. Our 2019 #2 PG Jordan Graham put on a clinic excelling at both ends of the floor. He finished tonight with 19 points, 4 rebounds, and 5 assists. Graham missed a couple of free throws down the stretch that would have put him over 20 pts, but he still had an incredible performance. He is still uncommitted, Jordan already enters the season with one D1 offer and he will finish the season with plenty more. Out of all of the starters on this Win City squad, the shortest player is their 6’3 point guard. This team is one of the tallest in their area/region with three players standing over 6’7. Clark County had a big time performance from 2021 wing Jared Wellman, he finished as the second leading scorer on their team tonight with 13 points. He also contributed with 6 boards and 3 dishes to his teammates. Wellman is a top 30 player in his class and has a very high ceiling as he continues to get taller and stronger. The Cardinals also had role player contributions from two 6’7 forwards tonight, senior Brennan Canada and junior transfer from Frederick Douglass Lincoln Bush. Both of them helped score 6 points; Canada finished with 6 rebounds and 3 assists, Bush with 5 rebounds to his name. Senior forward Jehdon Jenkins helped the Cards tonight by contributing 8 points and really increased their lead in the 4th quarter when GRC was struggling with fouls.
Madison Central was anticipated to put up a fight, bringing the new KHSAA all time block leader Isaiah Cozart to Winchester to compete. Cozart recently committed to Western Kentucky and last week he passed a 30 year old record by becoming the KHSAA all time leader for career blocks, which is quite impressive. He started the game off slow, getting into early foul trouble. I assume he hasn’t faced team who is the size of GRC and has multiple players who can defend him in the paint. Cozart only put up 2 points in the first half, after sitting the last 4 minutes of the 2Q to foul trouble. But exploded in the second half finishing with 15 points, 8 rebounds, and a block to add to his record. Isaiah had a monster block in the second quarter sending GRC’s Jenkins shot flying back to the half court line. Central has a couple shooters on their team who can stroke it when left open. Sophomores Braeden Ray and Kole Browne really helped the Indians tonight; Ray finished with 12 points and 2 rebounds, Browne with 8 points. Also, 2019 forward Preston Roberts wasn’t a force on offense but collected 6 boards to help out his D1 teammate on defense. Senior guard Quaezhan Charlton was a glue guy tonight and is flying under the radar, he could make a nice role player on a low D3 or NAIA roster, he had 7 points/3 rebounds/4 assists.
Takeaways
GRC has one of the tallest teams in the 10th Region and proved why belong on the top of the rankings after their performance tonight. Clark County has a nice balance on their team of talent; players on all classes 2019, 2020, and 2021 are all filled with players. The Cardinals have a special group and senior guard Jordan Graham is leading the pack being the general this team needs. This team is so talented their have a 6’7 player on their bench, foul trouble shouldn’t be a trouble for Coach Cook’s team because they were subbing in and out tonight. Their bench goes 4 deep in terms of players who can come in and contribute. Although this team is getting a lot of praise, they had a lot of careless turnovers during all parts of the games that teams better than Madison Central will capitalize on. Central had opportunities to get back in this game that regional opponents such as Campbell County, Scott, and Pendleton County would have seized. Clark County has a lot of things to work on in practice and if they limit turnovers this can be the best Cardinal team in recent history. GRC returns to action Friday night at home against University of Kentucky signee Dontaie Allen and (3-1) Pendleton County.
Madison Central struggled in this game with committing fouls and bad turnovers. But were still able to fight back and make somewhat of an interesting game. Before the season started, Madison Central was considered one of the best teams in the 11th Region, but after falling to (1-2) it is looking like they are middle of the pack even with Isaiah Cozart. Legendary Coach Feldhaus has things to work on in the coming weeks and it is crunch time for his team. The Indians are featured in several of the best holiday tournaments around the state and the season doesn’t get any easier for this team. I believe over time this team will form and become contenders again for their region, but first they will have to compete with the big dogs #1 Scott County and Lexington Catholic. Madison Central returns to action Saturday night when they host Somerset in the Central Bank Classic.
Final Stat-Line
George Rogers Clark (57): Graham 19, Wellman 13, Jenkins 8, Canada 6, Bush 6, Morton 3, Rucker 2.
Madison Central (46): Cozart 15, Ray 12, Browne 8, Charlton 7, Roberts 2, Jacobs 2.