NCOE was in a must win situation Saturday morning when they were set to take on the Carterville Lions at the Eldorado Holiday Tournament. Both teams were sitting at 1-1 for the tournament and a win would place the victor in the 5th/6th place game whereas a loss would terminate tourney play for the 2018 year.
This contest would find the Fighting Cardinals going up against their biggest and strongest opponent thus far this season and the size and strength of Carterville would cause NCOE lots of difficulty on both ends of the floor. This size advantage in nearly every position found the Fighting Cardinals falling behind the Lions 20-8 following the first quarter of play. Second quarter action was a little better defensively for NCOE but offensively they were only able to post eight more points to their total. This found the Fighting Cardinals trailing 34-16 as they headed to the locker room at halftime.
Second half action brought forth a new attitude for the Fighting Cardinals as they picked up the intensity on both ends of the court. This new found energy allowed NCOE to play Carterville even in the final two quarters of play. This, unfortunately, did not allow the Fighting Cardinals to erase the early deficit, but it did provide positivity as they head into the second half of the season.
Brandon Skaggs and Ty Money were the only Fighting Cardinals reaching double digits in the scoring column with 11 and 10, respectively. Others scoring for NCOE (4-8) were Eli Brown and Joe Melton with six points a piece, Jack Riggs and CJ Richardson five points each, Colton O’Neal and Ty Lane with two points a piece, and Jacob Richerson one point.
