NCOE would begin play at the 52nd Annual Eldorado Holiday Tournament against a team that they had just played 16 days prior in the Fairfield Mules. Having only lost to the Mules by a mere eight points in their first meeting, NCOE was starting tournament play with hopes of being the second consecutive team of the day to pull off an upset and knock the #2 seeded Fairfield Mules into the consolation side of the bracket.
Following the tip, momentum quickly swayed in favor of the Mules as they jumped out to the early 17-13 lead. NCOE would then get their offense going in the second quarter to go on a 11-7 run and tie the contest at 24. This NCOE run would come to a halt at this point as the Mules went on a 17-9 run of their own to stretch their lead to 41-33 at the halftime break.
NCOE hit the court cold on the offensive end in the third quarter as they were only able to muster 13 points while the Mules exploded for a game high 30 points. Although the Fighting Cardinals were able to outscore the Mules in the final frame the deficit was too much to overcome as they fell by the final score of 86-64.
This loss dropped NCOE into the consolation side of the tourney bracket where they would now face the Massac County Patriots (Gallatin County knocked off the Patriots in the first upset of the tournament prior to the NCOE game).
Matt Long was the leading scorer for NCOE (3-8) not to mention the overall top scorer for the first day of competition in the tournament as he notched 27 points. Trenton Verble would follow Long with 12 points of his own via four 3-pointers while Cooper Wells would also hit double digits with 11. Jeb Baumgart and Ben Taylor would round out the scoring for the Fighting Cardinals with 9 and 5 points, respectively.
