Following an opening round upset over the seventh-seeded Fairfield Mules in the 51st Annual Eldorado Holiday Tournament, Coach Evan Wyllie and his Fighting Cardinal basketball team were looking to bounce back from a second round loss to a very talented second-seeded Webster County, Kentucky team, and land themselves into a trophy game at 6:00 in the evening. However, in order to keep their dreams alive and accomplish this goal, NCOE had one major obstacle to overcome. This would be pulling an even bigger upset than their first round game against the number six seeded and host team, Eldorado Eagles.
With both teams suffering their first loss of the tournament on the previous day, it would be a matter of who could bounce back the fastest and recover from the earlier disappointment. As the first quarter got underway, it was obvious the host team, Eldorado Eagles, was on a mission to stay alive in their own tournament when they jumped out to the early 26-10 lead. NCOE did manage to get their offense going in the second quarter against a very tall and physical Eagle team, but would still find themselves trailing 44-27 at the halftime break.
The second half would find the Fighting Cardinals making runs and inching closer, but with every NCOE run, Eldorado appeared to have an answer and would counteract with a run of their own to extend their lead just a little bit more as each quarter would come to a close. When the final buzzer sounded, the Fighting Cardinals found themselves coming up short by the final score of 79-53 to see their tournament hopes come to an end.
Chase Sutton led all NCOE players in the game with 16 points. Following closely was Matt Long with 14 points of his own. Others scoring in the game were Jake DeLap six points, Nolan Sutton five points, Brantley Neal five points, Trenton Verble five points, and Cooper Wells two points. NCOE (8-5) will be back in action on Saturday, January 2, when they welcome a familiar opponent in the Fairfield Mules to town.
