The NCOE Fighting Cardinals took to the road early Saturday, Jan. 11, on their longest road trip of the year. Originally snowed out of the trip to Springfield on Dec. 7, the Cardinals traveled to the state capital to take on the Calvary Saints in a make-up nonconference tilt.
Cavalry, sporting an 11-2 season and averaging 75 points a game, dispatched the Cardinals 56-41 in a tight contest that saw NCOE play some strong defense against a good opponent.
“I thought we had a really good showing,” Coach Bryan Graven said on Monday. “We played a really tough first half, holding them to just twelve points, but the second half got away from us.”
Turnovers came back to bite the Cardinals, who committed eighteen in the game, many coming in the second half. The Saints were able to capitalize on the mistakes, and steadily build a lead. Still, the staunch NCOE defense held Cavalry to only 56 points, well below their season average.
“Any time you can go onto a good team’s floor and keep them from scoring, you have to be happy with that.” Graven explained. “We got our hands on the ball quite a few times just by being in the right position. That really made the coaching staff proud.”
The Cardinals did get a win in the JV matchup. Both squads take on Pope County on Tuesday, Jan.14.
For complete NCOE Cardinals Varsity stats and box scores, go to www.thevillagersvoice.com and click the Max Preps link on the upper right hand side of the home page.
