George Rogers Clark advances to Sweet 16 semis after defensive slugfest
Entering the fourth quarter, neither team was shooting over 30 percent from the field. But offense wasn’t going to decide this outcome — physical defense was what ultimately propelled the tournament favorite into the semifinals.
On Friday afternoon inside of Rupp Arena, No. 1 George Rogers Clark (35-1) won a slugfest in the quarterfinals of the 2022 UK Healthcare Boy’s Sweet 16 Tournament, taking down No. 8 Pikeville (32-3) by a final score of 43-38. It was a taste of redemption for the Cardinals, which was knocked out of the quarterfinal round a year ago by Elizabethtown.
GRC advances in spite of the team’s 31.1 percent shooting mark from the field and poor 2-21 clip from distance. Both teams were held to their lowest point totals of the season. The Cardinals came into the matchup sporting the state’s highest points per game average at over 84 points per outing. Pikeville came in averaging over 68 points per contest.
George Rogers Clark was led by 6-foot-4 star junior guard Jerone Morton, who finished with 11 points, five rebounds, three assists, and three steals. His sophomore year came to a close in this exact game a year ago, so he made sure the outcome was different the next time around.
“I felt relieved that we finally made it to the Final Four and I’m just ready to get to the championship and win it,” Morton said postgame.
The contest began with both sides finding a rhythm early, although it wouldn’t last long. GRC took a quick 13-8 lead after the first quarter of action, earning eight of the team’s points off Pikeville turnovers. The Cardinals’ pesky defense wouldn’t let up from there, either. Pikeville scored just five points in the second quarter and only seven more in the third. The Panthers did an excellent job on defense in their own right but simply couldn’t muster up enough points.
“The execution they had defensively, I thought they were excellent all night,” Pikeville head coach Elisha Justice said postgame of his team’s defensive effort. “Thought we made it as tough as we could for a team that has an explosive offense like they do. We felt like we gave ourselves a shot to win the game and a few shots fall just a little different — we just couldn’t seem to get one to go down early and we feel if we could have hit one or two, then it would’ve been a different ballgame.”
While George Rogers Clark would combine for a mere 16 points across those same two periods on offense, the overwhelming effort on the other end of the floor through the first three quarters was paying off in waves once th fourth rolled around. Pikeville was shooting just 24.2 percent coming into the last frame before finally coming alive down the stretch. The Panthers outscored GRC 18-14 in the final frame, nearly mounting a full-on comeback as the clock ticked closer to the buzzer.
Pikeville would finally hit the team’s first 3-pointer of the afternoon (which banked in from the right corner) in the fourth quarter, eventually knocking in four more over the last eight minutes. Senior point guard Keian Worrix nearly brought the Panthers back all by himself with multiple key plays down the stretch, including a massive triple with just 12 seconds left that put Pikeville down a single point.
Unfortunately, the scoring efforts were too little too late. GRC hit enough free-throws in the final minute to secure the win and a spot in Saturday’s semifinals matchup. The Cardinals will take a short break before coming back to Rupp Arena for an 11:00 AM tip against No. 9 Lincoln County, which took down North Oldham in the opener on Friday and will play in the school’s first-ever Sweet 16 semifinals.
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