MT. STERLING — These two rivals met Friday night to decide the number one seed in the 40th District Tournament. After 44 minutes of play, George Rogers Clark defeated Montgomery County 80-72.

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The highly anticipated matchup featured the top two teams in the 10th Region. Clark had defeated Montgomery by 26 points just two weeks prior in Winchester, but that was without newly eligible veteran point guard Cayden Reed.

This game also featured the region’s top two guards, Reed and Malachi Ashford, who were matched up with each other the entire game. 

George Rogers Clark started the game with seven unanswered points, prompting Montgomery County coach Jason Mays to call a timeout three minutes and 15 seconds into the game.  The Indians responded and made it a 14-10 game at the end of one frame.

Dawson Gentry’s three at 7:10, second quarter, would tie things up at 16. Cayden Reed’s jumper handed Montgomery the 24-23 lead with five minutes until halftime. 

Reed scored 12 points in the second quarter and made back-to-back mid-range jumpers to put Montgomery up 33-29 at the half. 

Out of the locker room, Montgomery County led 39-29 two minutes into the second half after back-to-back threes, giving them their largest lead of the game.  Josh Cook called a timeout.

“Calm down.  Execute.  Get defense stops and give yourself a chance to win,” is what Cook told his players.

The Cardinals would respond by going on a 9-2 run out of the timeout, cutting the lead to five points with 2:15 left in the third quarter.  Sam Spillman’s three capped off a 12-2 run and made it a 45-43 game with 1:25 left in the third, the Cardinals still trailing.  Heading into the fourth quarter, Montgomery County led 43-41.

Both teams traded threes in the final frame, but Malachi Ashford’s trey with 3:20 left tied the game at 55. From there, both squads managed just one field goal each when regulation time ended, sending the game to overtime tied at 57.  

The Indians controlled the tip, but Clark would strike first with Ashford’s drive through the lane one minute into overtime.  Luke Fawns would respond quickly with a three to put the Indians ahead 60-59.  Ashford would answer with another drive from the top of the key into the lane, putting the Cards up 61-60 with 1:59 left.  

Counting on star guard Malachi Ashford, who led the Cards with 24 points, Coach Cook said, “You’ve got to trust your guys to make big plays, and Malachi’s brave enough to do that… It was good to see our guys being aggressive around the rim and going through contact.”

Quickly responding again, Cayden Reed would make a pull-up 15-footer to give the lead back to Montgomery, 62-61. 

With 37.7 left on the clock, Josh Cook called out a baseline out-of-bounds play that led to a wide-open layup… that was missed.  However, Montgomery County would turn it over, and after a loose ball, Eli Craig’s putback gave the Cards a one-point lead with 26 seconds left.  

Cayden Reed would get fouled shooting on the other end, making one of two free throws to tie things up at 63 heading into double overtime.

Andrew Terry would start scoring by hitting two free throws to give the Indians a 67-65 lead in 2OT. An alley-oop layup from Reed to Fawns gave Montgomery a 69-64 lead with 2:15 left.  

Clark would answer with a 7-1 run and lead 71-70 before Cayden Reed made one of two free throws to tie things up with 7 seconds left.  Ashford’s layup would bounce off the back of the rim, sending the game to triple-overtime.

GRC controlled the 3OT tip and scored in seven seconds when Eli Craig found Montez Gay wide-open under the basket. That would be the start of Clark outscoring Montgomery 9-1 in the third overtime and coming away with an 80-71 win.

Montgomery County was without Ethan Dunn.  Coach Mays said after the game his absence affected substitution options.  Tasked with guarding Malachi Ashford for seven quarters and nearly 44 minutes without a break, Cayden Reed was visibly exhausted.  He played only 17 minutes vs. Mason County and half of the Powell County game before they forfeited.

Reed still managed to lead his team with 27 points total with 6 points in the overtime periods. 

The Indians were 15 of 22 total from the foul line.  But, in the fourth quarter and after, they were 9 of 14 and missed in key situations.  

GRC will be the number one seed in the 40th District Tournament at Paris.

Coach Mays said, “Some people are going to say it’s a win in a way, but it’s not – it’s a loss.  Their (GRC’s) program is the way it is right now because they win games like that… We’re growing, and we’re getting there.  Just tonight wasn’t our night.”

George Rogers Clark improves to 17-3 and Montgomery County falls to 11-9.  

Clark (80) — Malchi Ashford 24, Montez Gay 17, Amari Bartelson 14, Eli Craig 14, Maddox Hager 8, Sam Spillman 3, Maddox Campbell 0, Connor Morguson 0.

Montgomery (72) — Cayden Reed 27, Luke Fawns 13, Tyce Jarvis 10, Dawson Gentry 10, Andrew Terry 9, Isaiah Rowlett 3, Dane Klute 0.

Clark: 14-15-14-14–6-8-9—80
MoCo: 10-23-12-12–6-8-1—72