The Norris City-Omaha-Enfield Freshmen Fighting Cardinal Basketball team ventured back to McLeansboro Wednesday evening to play their second round game against the Carmi White County Bulldogs in the annual Hamilton County Tournament. After both teams dropped their first round games (NCOE against the Fairfield Mules), this game was in a must win situation in order to stay alive in the tournament.
When the game got underway, the Bulldogs jumped out to the early 11-4 lead following one quarter of play. NCOE tightened up their defense in the second quarter and held Carmi to only six points. This defensive hold was a must for the Fighting Cardinals as they were still struggling on the offensive end, having only scored nine total points thus far.
Trailing 17-9 coming out of the locker room after intermission, NCOE was very well aware they had to get their offense going if they were to stand a chance to pull off the victory. That is exactly what the Fighting Cardinals did as they erupted for ten third quarter points while holding their opponent to only five to narrow their deficit to three with only one quarter remaining. This fourth and final quarter was not one with many points for either team. However, NCOE had trimmed the Bulldog lead to only two nearing the end of the game and as time was running out, the Fighting Cardinals had two separate shot attempts to tie or go ahead following a foul along with a Carmi miss on the front end of a one and one, but both shots fell short to no avail, leaving NCOE on the short end of the 24-22 final score.
Colton O’Neal led the way for NCOE with 11 points, all of those coming in the second half. Others scoring for the Fighting Cardinals were Brandon Skaggs nine (seven of these coming in the first half) and Jaden Barton two.
