For the second time in as many weeks, the NCOE Junior High basketball team was set to take on the Fairfield Colts. This time, however, it was not in a tournament on a neutral site, but rather a home game for a talented Fairfield team. Therefore, NCOE knew they had their work cut out for them.
First quarter action started out slow for the Jr. Cards on the offensive end as they were only able to register four points compared to their opponents 12. This eight point deficit was one that NCOE knew would be hard to overcome, but with a gallant second quarter effort, the gap narrowed when the Jr. Cards outscored the Colts 10-8 to only trail by six at the halftime break.
Following halftime, NCOE came out strong once again, but Fairfield matched this strength with their own to extend their lead to nine, heading into the final quarter of play. This fourth and final quarter found the Jr. Cards wearing down and the Colts taking advantage of this, along with some sharp shooting of their own to outscore NCOE 14-6 and hand the Jr.Cards the hard fought 46-29 loss.
Jack Riggs led the scoring column for NCOE with 22 points (18 coming from three point land) followed by three from Ty Money, and two each from Trey Simmons and Devon Lawless. Ty Money dished out three assists to top all Jr. Cardinal players. Others with an assist were Ty Lane two, Trey Simmons two, Devon Lawless two, and Spencer Taylor one.
Devon Lawless collected eight rebounds to lead the team, followed by four from Joe Melton, three from CJ Richardson, two from Ty Money and Brendan Frost, and one from Jack Riggs. The steals category was topped by Ty Money with four. Others collecting a steal were Ty Lane, CJ Richardson, Bryce Jolley, Trey Simmons, and Devon Lawless.
The jayvee contest was much more balanced than the varsity with neither team outscoring the other by more than four points in any of the four quarters. However, it would be the Jr.Cardinal team coming up short in each of the four quarters to fall by the final score of 33-24.
Scoring was very balanced for NCOE in this contest, but Ty Money topped all players with six points, followed by four from CJ Richardson. Nathaniel Wilson and Megan Healy each added three points along with two points a piece from Peyton Edwards, Jacob Richerson, Lucas Browning, and Aryon Jolley. Jacob Richerson dished out three assists to lead the team followed by one each from Megan Healy and CJ Richardson.
CJ Richardson collected four rebounds for the Jr.Cards followed by three from Peyton Edwards and Lucas Browning, and one from Ty Money, Nathaniel Wilson, Jacob Richerson, and Colter Rister. Jacob Richerson and Ty Money topped all players with three steals a piece. Others collecting steals were Peyton Edwards two, and one each from Joe Melton, Nathaniel Wilson, and Lucas Browning.
The Junior Cardinals will travel to Thompsonville on Monday, December 14, then welcome Wayne City to town on Thursday, December 17, before laying idle over the Christmas break.
Varsity
1 2 3 4 Total
NCOE 4 10 9 6 29
F-field 12 8 12 14 46
JV
NCOE 7 4 6 7 24
F-field 8 6 8 11 33
