12-19-14

Using a 19-6 third quarter edge by being very precise on offense in the half-court, NCOE took care of the ball and took down Hardin County, 58-37 in Greater Egyptian Conference play.

The Cardinals were balanced on their attack, committed just eight turnovers (only two in the second half) and kept the Cougars off of the glass for most part as they improved to 3-1 in the conference and 4-6 overall.

After a poor start to the season with some losses early, NCOE has played better of late and are back in the GEC regular season race as they handed Coach Rodney Lane's team its first defeat of the season (2-1) in the league as the Cougars now stand 8-2 overall.

“I thought the difference tonight was that we held them to 37-points,” said Coach Graven. “We spread them out on offense tonight. We saw them play and we thought there were some things that we could do against them and the kids tonight executed the game-plan and we took advantage of what they gave us.”

Getting to the basket frequently the Cardinals shot the ball well for the evening.

But considering that most of the shots were close to the basket it wasn't surprising that NCOE were successful.

Coach Graven's team finished 26-of-44 overall with all 26 successful shots coming inside of the 3-point arc.

The Cards converted several of the Hardin County turnovers into points in route to the win.

The way things went on Friday night for the hosts, nearly everyone in uniform put up numbers as 8-of-11 players who got into the contest scored in the victory.

Senior guard Blake Karnes topped the scoring list with 14-points on seven made field goals while senior Nate Glad was apparently “happy” to help out the cause as he added 10-points.

Seven points each came from Chase Sutton and Kyle Sell in the lopsided win that was a close game for two quarters before a couple of big runs by NCOE took the air out of the Cougars late.

Coach Lane's club, like a lot of teams in the south, are battling the flu and had sick kids.

But this coach didn't use this as an excuse for his club's performance.

“We didn't do much of anything right tonight. We didn't guard anybody. We didn't get back on defense. It wasn't a good night,” said Coach Lane. “We have some guys sick but give them (NCOE) credit. The outplayed us in every part of this game.”

Hardin County didn't do much of anything right on the night after a pretty good first half.

Only one Cougar player, senior Logan Conn, scored double-figures (11-points) for Coach Lane.

Sophomore Tyler Winters (nine points) and Tanner Dutton (seven points) followed Conn on the scoreboard as Hardin County finished the contest just 14-of-40 from the field.

Austin Seavers, a sophomore forward, hit a pair of shots in the first quarter to help Hardin County get a one-point first quarter lead.

Conn and Winters each hit 3-pointers in the first quarter and when Winters hit his long range shot to close the frame, Hardin County led 12-11 at the first horn.

Following a drive to the basket by BJ Austin that opened the second quarter scoring for Hardin County, NCOE went on its first run of the night.

The Cardinals got the offensive attack in gear with a 10-2 start.

Six of the ten points came from Glad, who scored in transition, from the foul line and grabbed his own rebound for a put-back basket and a 21-16 advantage with 3:59 left before the half.

A basket by Karnes for the hosts and a score by Dutton for Hardin County closed the second quarter at 25-20 NCOE.

It didn't take Coach Graven's bunch to take command in the second half.

The Cardinals mounted a 12-2 attack to open the third quarter to get their first double-digit lead.

A combination of made shots by NCOE and misfires by the Cougars couldn't have came at a worse time for the guests.

In the third quarter alone, Hardin County was 3-of-15 from the field.

In this time frame, the Cardinals rolled with Glad getting two more scores and teammates Sell and Matt Long, a sophomore for the Cards, each providing offense.

When Long went deep on a fast-break on a pass from Sell, his lay in made it 37-24 with 3:14 left.

A Hardin County basket by Conn stopped the NCOE run.

However the next nine points came quickly for the Cardinals.

Back-to-back scores from Long, a conventional three-point play by junior Chase Sutton and a rebound basket by junior forward Jacob Delap spelled doom for the Cougars as NCOE had taken a 44-26 lead at the end of the third quarter.

The fourth quarter brought more of the same for the hosts as they spread the floor offensively and shot more lay ups.

Sell (2), Sutton, Karnes and junior Dakota Bond all got in on the fun in the final minutes.

When Sell scored on a baseline drive late in the game, Norris City-Omaha-Enfield had its biggest lead at 54-31.

Reserves finished up the final few minutes as the Cardinals picked up a big league win.

The Fighting Cardinals held a 26-16 rebounding edge on the night and took better care of the ball as Hardin County committed 12-turnovers, with four of them coming in the third quarter.

“Our defense was terrible and they shot a good percentage because they shot lay ups all night,”said Coach Lane. “We probably got 'back-door-ed” 20-times tonight.”

Both of these teams have a few days off from games as they will head to the Eldorado Holiday Tournament which starts on December 26.

Hardin County, seeded ninth in the event, will play the host Eagles on opening night while Norris City-Omaha-Enfield (15th seed) gets to play second-seeded Massac County at 11:30 am.

“I thought we played great defense tonight. We kept them from doing things that they wanted to do,” said Coach Graven. “The shot mostly jump shots instead of driving to the basket. I thought our second and third lines of defense did a great job when they tried to get to the basket.”