Tuesday evening found the Norris City-Omaha-Enfield Fighting Cardinal basketball team venturing to Carrier Mills to play the Wildcats in a Greater Egyptian Conference game. Having dropped their previous two games, NCOE was hoping to get back on track and claim yet another conference victory on the season. Carrier Mills, however, had other plans in mind.
To start the game, the Wildcats would claim the tip and take the early two point advantage. Carrier Mills would use this early charge to keep the momentum in their favor as they would extend their lead to nine as the first quarter came to a close. Second quarter action would find the Fighting Cardinals getting into a rhythm of their own as they went on a 14-7 run to narrow the Wildcat lead to two as both teams headed to the locker room for the halftime break.
Following halftime, it appeared both teams were trading baskets for the longest time, but finally with 2:03 remaining in the third quarter, NCOE would tie the contest at 31.
The Fighting Cardinals would then claim their first lead of the game at 33-31 with 1:19 remaining in the third. Nursing a two point lead heading into the final frame, it was time for the Fighting Cardinals to have an energy burst and take control of the game, but instead the momentum seemed to sway back towards the Wildcats following two made free throws from a technical foul (Carrier Mills tied the game at thirtyseven all). NCOE would once again take the lead back at 41-39, but another Fighting Cardinal technical foul would see the Wilcats tie the contest again at 41. Carrier Mills would grab another lead at 43-41, but Cooper Wells would drain a jumper to knot it back up at 43 all with 1:52 remaining. Not much more scoring would take place, and it appeared the Fighting Cardinals were going to squeak out the victory when they went back up 47-46 with only twenty seconds left, but Carrier Mills was determined to not go down without a fight as they hit a shot to reclaim the lead at 48-47 with only three seconds to go. NCOE took the ball out of bounds expecting last second heroics, but a costly turnover led to another Wildcat layup to seal the deal and hand the Fighting Cardinals the 50-47 loss.
Chase Sutton topped all Fighting Cardinals (15-11, 6-3) in the game with 15 points. Matt Long added 10 points followed by Nolan Sutton with six, Jake Delap five, Dakota Bond four, Cooper Wells four, and Marcus Niehaus three.
Coach Wyllie stated, “We had a slow start, but we battled our way back. We were able to take the lead going into the fourth quarter, but we just couldn’t hang on.”
Junior varsity action was fairly balanced most of the way, but NCOE would fall behind by four points early when Carrier Mills outscored them 16-12 in the first quarter. Both squads registered ten points the second quarter and the Fighting Cardinals would still find themselves trailing by four at halftime.
After intermission, NCOE was able to outscore their opponent by three points in the third quarter to narrow their deficit to only one point, but the final eight minutes went the Wildcat way as they registered thirteen points to NCOE’s seven in handing the Fighting Cardinals the 45-38 loss.
The Junior Varsity team was led by Jeb Baumgart’s 14 points. Others scoring were Brandon Skaggs 10, Trenton Verble four, Evan Healy three, Colton O’Neal three, Ben Taylor two, and Justin Brock two. \
NCOE will travel to Thompsonville Friday night to wrap up the regular season. They will then begin IHSA Class A Regional Tournament action on Monday, February 22, when they travel to Crab Orchard to take on the Thompsonville Tigers once again. NCOE would be back in action Tuesday, February 23, at Crab Orchard if they win Monday’s contest.
