The Norris City-Omaha-Enfield Fighting Cardinal basketball team was back in action Friday evening at the Christopher Turkey Tournament. This time the Fighting Cardinals were taking on the Thompsonville Tigers in semi-final action to see who would advance to play for the championship.
First quarter action was very balanced on both ends of the court but as the buzzer sounded, it would be Thompsonville clinging to a one point advantage over NCOE (14-13). The Fighting Cardinals responded nicely in the second quarter of play by stepping their intensity level up a notch on the defensive end to top their opponent 12-8 to claim the 25-22 halftime lead.
It appeared all was going well for the Fighting Cardinals but the third quarter proved otherwise. NCOE went cold on the offensive end and that, topped by some impressive Tiger defense, held the Fighting Cardinals to just two third quarter points. This offensive drought found NCOE now trailing by nine points heading into the final stanza of play. This final quarter of play found NCOE still struggling to get off good shots but their defense would manage to keep the game within reach. However, the Tigers would go on to outscore the Fighting Cardinals by three points in this final 8:00 of play handing NCOE their first loss of the season, 47-35.
Scoring was led by Jack Riggs with nine points followed by Brandon Skaggs with five, Colton O’Neal four, Trey Simmons four, Eli Brown three, C.J. Richardson three, Ty Lane three, Jacob Richerson two, and Ty Money two.
NCOE will bounce back and return to Christopher Saturday evening to take on Wayne City in the third place game.
