Tuesday evening marked the annual rivalry amongst two White County basketball teams when the Carmi White County Bulldogs traveled to Norris City to take on the Norris City-Omaha-Enfield Fighting Cardinals. Knowing that the last time these two teams met NCOE got the better of the Bulldogs (at the Eldorado Holiday Tournament) fans anticipated a heated atmosphere.
First half action was one in which it appeared the Fighting Cardinals could do no wrong as they wreaked havoc on the Bulldogs with their zone defense (only the Orangemen of Syracuse could run a zone better). NCOE capitalized on the Carmi confusion to force several turnovers and knock down shots jumping out to the early 11 point lead, 28-17, at the halftime break.
NCOE, hoping to continue to add to their lead and cause even more chaos for the CWC offense, found the start of the second half going any which way but what they had planned. The Fighting Cardinals coughed up some early turnovers to start the third quarter, and realized the Bulldogs had made some offensive adjustments to counteract the zone. All of this combined, led to a 24-4 Carmi run and found NCOE now trailing by nine with only eight minutes remaining in the contest. Both teams held their own in this final frame with small spurts, but when time ran out, it would be the Bulldogs redeeming themselves from their previous meeting and handing the Fighting Cardinals the 61-49 defeat.
Chase Sutton was the top scorer for NCOE (5-3) with 16 points. Matt Long pitched in with 12 points of his own while Jake Delap picked up nine points, Cooper Wells seven, and Dakota Bond five.
The junior varsity contest saw the Bulldogs coming out strong right from the start to jump out to the early 18-7 first quarter lead. Momentum slowed down just a little bit in the second quarter, but CWC still managed to outscore NCOE 11-5 to claim the 29-12 halftime lead.
NCOE responded nicely following halftime and started to pick up intensity on the offensive end. This energy led them to 12 third quarter points, but unfortunately the Fighting Cardinals still found themselves trailing as they headed into the final frame. Fourth quarter action was still better than that of the first two of the game, but once again their 10 points was just not enough to stage the comeback, and NCOE fell by the final score of 60-34 to drop to 0-3 on the season.
Trenton Verble had the hot hand for NCOE as he posted 13 points in the game. Others scoring were Evan Healy eight, Jeb Baumgart four, and three a piece for Ben Taylor, Justin Brock, and Colton O'Neal.
Next up for NCOE will be the Galatia Bearcats at Galatia on Tuesday, December 15 followed by a trip to Hardin County on Friday, December 18 to take on last years IHSA Class 1A Regional Champion Cougars.
Varsity
1 2 3 4 Total
CWC 10 7 24 20 61
NCOE 16 12 4 17 49
JV
CWC 18 11 15 16 60
NCOE 7 5 12 10 34
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