02-02-09
BY JACK BULLOCK
HARRISBURG - On Monday night at the Greater Egyptian Conference Tournament – Carrier Mills let NCOE know in the first few moments that it was going to be a long evening.

Holding the Fighting Cardinals to just 11-points in the first two quarters – Coach Mark Motsinger’s club improved to a sparkling 18-3 on the season with a commanding 67-51 win.

The Wildcats – when NCOE was forced to foul – made 28-of-35 free throws on the night including 12-of-15 in the final quarter to pull away for the tournament title.

The win was also the third GEC Tourney title for Coach Motsinger in his six seasons at CM.

Luke Morgan – a 6-foot-5 senior center – paced the Cats with 26-points and seven rebounds.

Nearly all of his points came in close to the basket as he found himself open in the paint in between Cardinal defenders who were content to sit back in a 2-3 zone.

Three other Carrier Mills players reached double-figures with Ryan Nichols scoring 13-points while teammates Wyatt Kirkland and Jordan Miller added 12 apiece.

“I thought our defense in the first half was exceptional and even though we got into some foul trouble in the second half overall I’m pretty pleased,” said Coach Motsinger. “We got some good looks at the basket with Morgan in the middle and we hit some outside shots.”

The Cardinals (14-6) had just a single double-digit point producer as Nicholas Mitchell scored 19 and were just 20-of-53 overall from the floor.

NCOE’s 15-turnovers didn’t help the cause, either.

“We have shot bad this year and you can’t do that against good teams and expect to win,” said NCOE mentor Doug Miller. “They (Carrier Mills) are a very good team and they are well coached. The first time we played them we played a real good first half and a bad second half. Tonight we reversed that and got off to a poor start.”

Morgan, Nichols, Miller and Dallas Beeding scored in a 10-2 run to open the game.

Nichols hit a 3-pointer from the right corner to break the games’ only tie score.

When his shot found the mark with 6:30 remaining – Carrier Mills led 5-2.

NCOE rallied briefly to close the quarter with Jordan Weiss and Matt Kerns scoring to cut the CM lead to just 10-6.

But Carrier Mills opened the second quarter with a 13-2 scoring blitz with Morgan shaking loose for eight of the points.

He scored three times in the lane on spin moves and also on an offensive rebound.

He grabbed his own missed shot and his stick back with 4:02 to go made it 17-8 Wildcats.

A steal by Ryan Nichols turned into a fast break lay in by Wyatt Kirkland to push the lead to 23-8 with 2:15 to go.

NCOE didn’t get to double-figures until 1:16 to go when Kerns hit a 3-pointer from the right wing.

The Cardinals limped into halftime down 25-11.

“We took bad shots in the first half and then they beat us down the floor time and time again,” added Coach Miller. “We made some adjustments at halftime but you can’t dig that big of a hole and expect to come back.”

Coach Miller’s club made a couple of offensive runs in the second half but neither made a significant dent in the Carrier Mills advantage.

Levi Hart closed a 9-4 run to open the second half with a 3-pointer that sliced the lead down to single digits at 29-20.

Following a Morgan free throw to push the lead back to ten - Carrier Mills turned up the defensive pressure.

The Wildcats scored on back-to-back steals and fast break scores that turned into conventional three-point plays.

Jordan Miller made both of the steals and he found teammates Kirkland and Nichols with passes that resulted in a 6-0 run that forced an NCOE timeout at 36-20.

The fourth quarter was a free throw parade in which Carrier Mills kept the Cardinals at bay.

NCOE got the lead down to nine one final time in the fourth quarter when Mitchell hit a pair of free throws to cut the margin to 45-36.

Carrier Mills – who spent the last 7:15 of the game in the bonus - slammed the door shut by connecting 9-of-12 free throws in the final 4:44.

“We have worked hard on our defense this year and tonight it definitely paid off for us,” added Coach Motsinger. “I thought our guards did a great job on the outside defending and getting into the passing lanes.”

Carrier Mills hit 19-of-34 shots from the floor in the win.

Although NCOE out-rebounded CM 28-23 – the free throw differential (7-of-13 for the Cards) turned out to be the difference. Coach Miller’s squad committed 24 personal fouls – handing the Wildcats the victory.

“You can’t play the way we played tonight and win championships,” finalized Coach Miller. “We missed too many easy shots on offensive rebounds.”

Following Mitchell’s 19 points NCOE got nine points from Hart and eight from Weiss – who fouled out early in the fourth quarter.

Norris City-Omaha-Enfield (51) – Hart 0 3 0-0 9, Weiss 3 0 2-2 8, Etienne 0 0 2-4 2, Mitchell 8 0 3-6 19, Halfacre 2 0 0-1 4, Short 1 0 0-0 2, Kerns 2 1 0-0 7. 2FG-16, 3FG-4, FT-7-13, PF-24.
Carrier Mills (67) – Beeding 1 0 4-4 6, Harrison 0 0 0-0 0, Morgan 8 0 5-6 21, Nichols 2 1 6-7 13, Kirkland 4 0 4-5 12, Miller 3 0 6-9 12, Craig 0 0 2-2 2, Jackson 0 0 1-2 1.
2FG-18, 3FG-1, FT-28-35, PF-17.
Fouled Out – Weiss - NCOE.
Technical Fouls – None.

CRAB ORCHARD 78, HARDIN COUNTY 66
The Trojans responded from a tough loss to NCOE to win the third place game Monday night.

Ty Fauver – a 6-foot senior – led all scorers with 26-points which included six 3-pointers.

Adam Perry pitched in 17-points for Coach Jon Brown’s team while freshman Ben Kissing added 12.

Three of the Cougars hit for double-digits with Taylor Joiner leading the way with 15.

Dylan Davis and Travis Cowsert chipped in 14 and 11.

Crab Orchard rallied from a 32-27 halftime deficit by outscoring HC 51-34.

Hardin County (66) – Cowsert 3 1 2-2 11, R. Davis 2 0 2-2 6, Soward 0 0 0-0 0, Barnard 1 2 1-1 9, Vaughn 0 3 0-0 9, Joiner 3 2 3-3 15, D. Davis 5 0 4-4 14, Conrad 1 0 0-0 2.
2FG-15, 3FG-8, FT-12-14, PF-18.
Crab Orchard (78) – Johnson 2 1 2-2 9, Hutchins 1 2 1-2 9, Kissing 5 0 2-3 12, Fauver 2 6 4-6 26, Killen 0 0 1-2 1, Anderson 2 0 0-0 4, Perry 8 0 1-3 17.
2FG-20, 3FG-9, FT-12-16, PF-14.
Fouled Out – None.
Technical Fouls – None.

GALATIA 42, GALLATIN COUNTY 41 (OT)
The Bearcats mounted a comeback that forced overtime with Denton Reed topping the scoring for Galatia with 11-points.

The Hawks Jared Hunt led all scorers with 15-points with Brody Lowery with 10.

Gallatin County (41) – Drone 1 1 0-2 5, Steele 1 0 0-0 2, Charleton 0 0 0-0 0, Hunt 5 0 5-6 15, Lowery 3 0 4-6 10, Casteel 1 0 0-0 2, Aud 0 2 1-2 7. 2FG-11, 3FG-3, FT-10-16, PF-15.
Galatia (42) – Reed 1 3 0-0 11, Watson 3 0 2-4 8, Wallace 1 0 0-0 2, Cullum 2 0 2-3 6, Augustyniak 1 0 0-0 2, PIckering 2 0 2-3 6, Moore 0 0 0-0 0, Tennison 1 1 2-3 7.
2FG-11, 3FG-4, FT-8-13, PF-17.
Fouled Out – None.
Technical Fouls – None.