The year of the Cardinals: Clark’s Boys’ Sweet 16 title completes historic sweep
A week ago, George Rogers Clark’s boys basketball players cheered on their female counterparts as the Cardinals claimed the first Girls’ Sweet 16 state championship in program history with a win over Assumption.
Jamylyn Johnson, Clark’s junior guard, probably ate too much Rupp Arena ice cream at that game, according to his coach, but he also sent out a group text right after.
“I said, ‘It’s our turn.’ ... So, we came out here and got the job done.” Johnson recalled after he and his teammates defeated St. Xavier 58-50 in overtime Saturday in the UK HealthCare Boys’ Basketball Sweet 16 state tournament championship game on the same floor the girls got theirs.
It is only the second time in Kentucky High School Athletic Association history that a school has swept the boys’ and girls’ state basketball titles. Ashland did in 1928. Each Clark team won against private schools from Louisville’s 7th Region.
Clark makes clutch plays and clutch free throws down the stretch
Johnson delivered a shot-fake assist from the free-throw line to fellow junior Montez Gay for a fast-break dunk to tie their game at 44-44 with 1:19 to go in regulation. St. X turned it over twice the rest of the way around a Clark miss to squander its chances to retake the lead.
In the overtime period, St. X missed its first three field-goal attempts, all 3-pointers, along with its first two free-throw tries as Clark got to the free-throw line on multiple possessions via the Tigers’ foul trouble.
While the Cards struggled to close out both their quarterfinal win over Marshall County on Friday and their semifinal win over North Oldham on Saturday afternoon by making a paltry 54% of their free throws in those games, they rectified those issues with the championship banner on the line.
Malachi Ashford made three of his first four free throws of the four-minute overtime period. Clark led 47-44 with 1:54 left. Ryder Akins made one of his two free throws to increase the lead to 48-44 at the 1:31 mark.
The Cardinals made all eight free-throw attempts from there, four more from Ashford and four from Johnson. In all, Clark went 20 for 22 at the line. Johnson finished with 15 points. Akins added 10. Gay had nine.
Ashford, Clark’s tournament MVP, 10th Region player of the year and Mr. Basketball finalist, finished with a game-high 18 points, 11 at the line on 12 attempts, a marked improvement from his 6-for-16 effort from the previous two games.
“I just came in and when I got to the line, I wasn’t thinking about it,” Ashford said. “Before the game, I told myself, I already got all the misses out the way. So if that happens again, I’ll just go to the line, and they’ll all be knocked down. I just had to go to the line, not think about it and hit ‘em.”
St. X sees bounces go the wrong way
St. X (29-8), ranked No 3 in the final Kentucky Media Elite 16 poll of the regular season, failed to keep pace in overtime, going 1 for 6 from 3-point range and 1 of 4 at the free throw line in the extra frame. St. X led for most of the game until the overtime.
The Tigers went up 37-31 on Connor Klein’s 3-pointer with 6:25 left in the fourth and 44-40 after a 3-point play with 2:58 to go after Chief Cameron stole the ball from Ashford in backcourt and sprinted for a layup and foul.
Two Johnson free throws cut the Tigers’ advantage to 44-42 with 2:40 left.
St. X’s Jordan Jackson then missed a dunk off the back of the rim on the Tigers’ next possession. Cameron missed a fast break layup a half-minute later to set Clark loose for Gay’s dunk to tie it.
“I think free throws and loose balls were a big difference in the game.” St. X coach Kevin Klein said. “And I don’t think I’ve seen a team make as many tough twos, as GRC did tonight, than I’ve seen all year. And number 4 (Johnson) and 13 (Akins) just made some incredible shots, where I was extremely excited about them shooting. Our defense has carried us, and they (Clark’s shots) kept going in.
Cameron finished with 15 points. Jeremiah Jackson, the Tigers’ Mr. Basketball finalist, scored nine points, but went 0 for 6 from 3-point range. Sophomore Josh Lindsay scored all 11 of his points in the first half.
“You know, the ball bounces in different ways. You look at our North Laurel game: What if Davidson’s layup goes in at the end? It bounced our way. Tonight, it bounced their way,” Klein said. “It was just a tough stretch where, when you are on this stage, and you don’t see the ball go in, it’s all about finding the right guy to make the next play. And these guys wanted to make the play, and we had plays that just came up empty.”
District loss helped Clark learn to be tougher
The Cards (33-4), who were ranked No. 4 in the final poll, are the first team to win a state title after losing their district championship since Trinity in 2019. The 73-66 loss to tournament host Montgomery County on Feb. 26 might have been a blessing, however, Clark coach Josh Cook said.
“Adversity teaches you. It shows you, It makes you make a decision to who you really want to be. And after that game, we got tougher,” said Cook, who also led the Cards to the 2022 state championship. “We conditioned. We got physical. We used pads. We’re beating them with pads every day. Like, ‘Hey, you’ve got to be more physical, you got to be tougher, you got to be stronger.’”
That toughness might have helped Clark deal with one of the most difficult draws in the tournament — the “four-in-48.” Clark had an 8:30 p.m. tip Thursday, an 8:30 p.m. tip Friday and 1:30 and 7:30 p.m. tips Saturday — four games in 48 hours. Clark’s girls faced the same gauntlet. Cook learned a lesson from Clark’s 2023 championship game loss, he said.
“We won in ‘22 and we got the ‘four-in-48’ in ‘23, and I kind of lost my way to make sure we enjoyed it,” Cook said. “And our kids didn’t know how to respond, because we didn’t (enjoy it). … I told the guys ‘We’re going to enjoy this. No matter the outcome of this game, this was an awesome experience. This is what it’s all about.’”
This story was originally published March 22, 2026 at 1:02 AM.
