The Norris City-Omaha-Enfield Fighting Cardinal basketball team headed to SIC Thursday evening to play their second game of the Greater Egyptian Conference Tournament. The Fighting Cardinals dropped their first game of the tournament Tuesday evening to the Hardin County Cougars and once again found themselves up against an opponent that received a higher seed. This, however, did not deter NCOE one bit for they knew they were not an underdog against the Galatia Bearcats no matter what the rankings said.
NCOE proved this true as they jumped out to the early 16-12 lead following one quarter of play and never looked back. The Fighting Cardinals were clicking on all levels as they used a 17-8 second quarter run to take a 13-point lead into the locker room at halftime.
Second half action picked right back up where first half action finished as NCOE kept their offense rolling by scoring 17 more third quarter points. They also kept their defensive intensity up as they limited the Bearcats to just nine points to stretch their lead to 50-29 heading into the final stanza of play. This fourth and final quarter found the pace slowing drastically as NCOE only scored six points but the did stay strong on the defensive end as they only allowed Galatia nine more points en route to the 56-38 victory. This win moves the Fighting Cardinals into the Consolation Championship that will be played Saturday evening.
Jaden Barton topped the Fighting Cardinals (4-12) with 15 points while Brandon Skaggs followed closely with 14. Others scoring were Jeb Baumgart seven, Trey Simmons seven, Jack Riggs seven, Colton O’Neal four, and Evan Healy two
