01-29-10
BY JACK BULLOCK
HARRISBURG - Improbable as it may seem – the NCOE Fighting Cardinals are once again in the championship game of the Greater Egyptian Conference Tournament.

But if you had taken a quick peek at the Cards in the first half you would have thought that this team had folded.

Down 30-11 with 2:36 to go in the second quarter – NCOE looked like a beaten bunch. In fact the Cards had as many turnovers (11) as points.

However a few choice words by head coach Doug Miller woke up the sleeping Cardinals and a newfound energy coming out of the intermission put this team in the GEC title tilt.

Using four of his five timeouts in the first half – including back-to-back TO’s late in the second quarter – this coach got his point across to his senior group that was being outplayed.

Riding the hot hand of 6-foot-4 senior forward Matt Kerns in the second half and forcing Crab Orchard into a poor shooting half in the final 16-minutes – NCOE rallied for a 64-57 overtime triumph and a spot in Monday night’s championship game against Carrier Mills.

Kerns hit six 3-pointers in the contest with four of them coming in the third quarter as NCOE – who trailed 32-17 at the break – roared back into the game and subsequently wore down the Trojans in the overtime session to improve to 13-5 overall.

Teammate Cody Etienne pitched in 16-points for Coach Miller’s club while Jordan Weiss added nine.

“We talked about how in the world do you have five seniors that start for us and go out and do what they did in the first half,” said Coach Miller – referring to the way his kids went through the motions in the opening minutes of the game. “I told them that win or lose – you’re going to go out there and play like seniors in high school should and not third graders. I knew my kids would respond. I didn’t know if it would go that well. We were not playing hard and all of the things we talked about on defense we didn’t do in the first half. I told them you are getting outplayed by sophomores!”

Crab Orchard looked well on its way to victory number 19 on the season (18-3) early in the game and were cruising along with a double-digit lead when 6-foot-5 sophomore Ben Kissing left the game after picking up his third foul with 3:46 left until the half.

Coach Miller used back-to-back timeouts that got his players’ attention.

“I called a full timeout and I wasn’t done with my ‘butt-chewin’ so I called another one,” added Miller. “What good is a timeout if you don’t get your point across? After that second timeout I could see it in their faces. Something changed.”

At that point – NCOE made its move to get within 32-17 at the break.

Having to go to a 1-3-1 zone defense because of the foul problems – the Trojans left way too many open looks for the Cardinals and Kerns and Co. made Crab Orchard pay in the third quarter.

After Crab Orchard’s Drew Johnson (18-points) canned one of his four 3-pointers in the game to open the second half – Coach Jon Brown’s team led 34-17.

The floodgates opened from that point on and the 3-pointers fell like the snow that hit southern Illinois Friday night.

Kerns’ four trifecta’s in the frame alone with some stingy defense that allowed Crab Orchard just one offensive rebound in the quarter and 10 total points got the Cardinals to within striking distance.

A leaner from the left side of the floor by Weiss found the mark just before the horn to cut the lead down to 42-38 heading into the final quarter.

NCOE also forced Crab Orchard into four third quarter turnovers (13 for the contest), which resulted in some easy points to change the momentum.

A 9-2 scoring burst in the fourth quarter gave Norris City-Omaha-Enfield its first lead of the game at 47-45 with just over four minutes to play.

Weiss hit 3-of-4 free throws while Kerns scored on an offensive rebound and Etienne drove the baseline for a score in the run that forced a Crab Orchard timeout.

Kissing picked up his fourth foul with 6:22 to go in the fourth quarter. Although he stayed in the game – the sophomore center wasn’t nearly as effective defensively as he had been in the early going.

Kissing finished with 16-points and 13-rebounds and he scored his teams’ final four points to force overtime.

He got a pair of key offensive rebounds – one that resulted in a put back and the other one got him to the foul line where he cashed in both free throws to force the extra session.

Weiss picked up his fifth foul while driving to the basket late in regulation but his teammates picked up the slack by outscoring Crab Orchard 13-6 in the OT.

Kerns final long-range bomb from the top of the arc gave the Cardinals the lead back for keeps at 58-55 with 1:33 left.

A rebound basket by Kyle Brown and 3-of-4 free throws by Etienne and Kerns finished off the win for Coach Miller and his “comeback kids.”

NCOE finished 25-of-54 from the floor in the contest but were an eye-popping 17-of-30 overall in the second half. The Fighting Cardinals were just 7-of-16 from the foul line but made the ones that mattered the most in the overtime.

NCOE – who hasn’t won this tournament since returning to the league three seasons ago – would love to cut down the nets Monday night.

“I’m totally thrilled about the effort that these seniors showed in the second half,” finalized Coach Miller. “They showed guts and determination. I love my group of kids. I give them credit because I told the kids we don’t need any more moral victories. We need victories.”

The Trojans ended up hitting just 19-of-60 in the contest and just 5-of-20 from behind the arc.

Following Johnson and Kissing was Lorence Killen with 13 and Adam Perry with 10.

“We played pretty well for the game but we didn’t play real smart,” said Crab Orchard head coach Jon Brown. “We let them (NCOE) do what they wanted to in the second half. They drove to the basket so we went zone for a little bit because of the foul trouble and then they started knocking down shots. If we had made some shots there in the third quarter to match them we might have been ok. Even when we were up 15 in the first half we felt like we should have been up more than that. I felt like we missed a lot of easy shots.”

Norris City-Omaha-Enfield (64) – Weiss 3 0 3-6 9, Etienne 7 0 2-7 16, Short 2 0 0-1 4, Brown 2 1 0-0 7, Kerns 4 6 2-2 28, Sutton 0 0 0-0 0.
2FG-18, 3FG-7, FT-7-16, PF-22.
Crab Orchard (57) – Johnson 1 4 4-4 18, Wece 0 0 0-0 0, Kissing 6 0 4-8 16, Killen 4 1 2-2 13, Perry 3 0 4-6 10, Boester 0 0 0-2 0, Emery 0 0 0-0 0.
2FG-14, 3FG-5, FT-14-22, PF-19.
Fouled Out – Wece - Crab Orchard; Weiss, Etienne - NCOE.
Technical Fouls – None.

CARRIER MILLS 46, GALLATIN COUNTY 32
Defending tournament champion Carrier Mills will play again in the title game after taking care of Gallatin County in the nightcap as 6-foot-1 senior guard Wyatt Kirkland poured in 22-points for the win.

Teammate Jordan Miller added 11-points for Coach Mark Motsinger’s club that will take on NCOE on Monday night at SIC.

Gallatin County (12-11) was led by 5-foot-9 senior guard Brody Lowery with 14-points.

Carrier Mills jumped out to an 8-0 lead and were in command most of the way.

The Wildcats outgunned Gallatin County 19-8 in the third quarter to pull away to improve to 17-3 on the season.

Gallatin County (32) – Hunt 3 1 0-1 9, Lowery 7 0 0-0 14, Hish 0 0 0-0 0, Jones 0 0 0-0 0, Drone 1 0 3-4 5, Aud 0 0 2-2 2, Lowe 1 0 0-0 2.
2FG-12, 3FG-1, FT-5-7, PF-16.
Carrier Mills (46) – Kirkland 8 2 0-0 22, Miller 4 1 3-6 11, Craig 2 0 0-0 4, Ward 2 0 0-0 4, Jackson 0 0 2-2 2, Harrison 0 0 0-0 0, Brown 1 0 0-0 2, Bailey 0 0 0-1 0, Crim 0 0 0-0 0. 2FG-17, 3FG-3, FT-5-9, PF-13.
Fouled Out – None.
Technical Fouls – None

Thompsonville (1-16) was led by Scott Gaither with 14.

Pope County (56) – Benard 8 2 6-11 28, Butler 1 0 2-3 4, Simmons 4 0 4-6 12, Rison 2 0 2-4 6, Dunlap 1 0 0-0 2, Sandefur 1 0 2-2 4, Schuchardt 0 0 0-0 0.
2FG-17, 3FG-2, FT-16-26, PF-20.
Thompsonville (40) – Sullivan 1 0 2-5 4, Orrill 1 0 0-0 2, Gaither 3 1 5-6 14, Pack 1 0 0-0 2, Lindsey 2 2 3-6 13, Householder 0 1 0-0 3, Taylor 1 0 0-0 2, McRoy 0 0 0-0 0. 2FG-9, 3FG-4, FT-10-17, PF-17.
Fouled Out – None.
Technical Fouls – None