The Norris City-Omaha-Enfield Fighting Cardinal basketball team dug themselves an early hole Tuesday evening, when they traveled to Galatia to take on the Bearcats in a Greater Egyptian Conference game, by falling behind 18-10 following one quarter of play. However, the Fighting Cardinals managed to dig out of that hole in the second quarter when they erupted for 24 points while only allowing their opponent 13. This offensive explosion and defensive hold enabled NCOE to claim the 34-31 lead heading into the locker room at halftime.
Following intermission, the Fighting Cardinals picked up play the same way they began the game. The offensive and defensive struggle allowed the Bearcats to go on a 19-9 run to reclaim their earlier lead and stretch it out to seven points with just one quarter remaining. This fourth and final quarter would witness the NCOE offense returning, but unfortunately the Bearcats’ remained intact, which kept the Fighting Cardinals at bay as they fell by the final score of 70-62. This loss drops NCOE to 1-6 overall and 0-3 in GEC play.
Brandon Skaggs led the team with 24 points followed by Jeb Baumgart with 14. Others getting in on the scoring action were CJ Richardson with eight, Evan Healy five, Jaden Barton four, Colton O’Neal four, and Jack Riggs three.
The junior varsity contest was an interesting one to say the least. In normal circumstances, Seniors are not allowed to play at this level of play. However, with the number of participants being on the low end for Galatia, they were forced to use these players in order to put a team on the floor to play the Fighting Cardinals.
NCOE held strong in the first quarter of play and found themselves on trailing by two points (7-5) at the end of the stanza. Second quarter action was a different story, however, for the seasoned players used their Varsity experience to outscore the Fighting Cardinals 17-9 to find NCOE trailing by 10-points at halftime.
Second half action would be all in favor of the Fighting Cardinals as they would manage to top the Bearcats in both the third and fourth quarters on the offensive end but the early deficit was just too much to overcome as they fell by the final score of 49-42.
Leading the scoring column for the Jayvee team was Houston Money with 13 points. Ty Lane followed closely with 12 points of his own, while Jacob Richerson added five, Joe Melton four, and two points a piece for Eli Brown, Bryce Jolley, Jace Johnson, and Devon Robinson.
Following the game, Coach Jim Tucker stated, “I am proud of how well my team handled themselves and played hard throughout the game. At one point in the fourth quarter we were only down four points with a chance to cut even more into their lead. Galatia made their free throws when it counted, 10-15 from the line in the fourth quarter alone.” Tucker also added, “Playing against Seniors with quality Varsity minutes for the last couple of years was a moral victory for my underclassmen. As far as I am concerned, it will be a win in the victory column for us due to the fact that they had to play four Seniors and a Varsity starter to beat us on the scoreboard.”
