BY JACK BULLOCK
NORRIS CITY – For Scott McElravy and the Fairfield Mules, the 2015-16 season has been a struggle so far.

Opening up with five consecutive losses and the quickest ever exit from the Eldorado Holiday Tournament in the program's history, the Mules were needing a win to start the second half of their campaign.

Most of the problems that the club has had have come at the offensive end of the floor as they didn't shoot the ball well in the first half of the season.

However on Saturday night on the road, shots began to fall.

Rallying from a double-digit first half deficit and getting some clutch play down the stretch, Fairfield gained a bit of revenge against Norris City-Omaha-Enfield in its first game of the New Year.

Behind three players in double-figures and some key made free throws in the final minutes, Coach McElravy's bunch grabbed a 55-51 road win against a Fighting Cardinals' squad that knocked the Mules into the consolation bracket at the EHT nine days earlier.

Fairfield improved to 4-8 on the season by outscoring NCOE 36-22 in the second half.

The Mules forced nine of the hosts' 12-turnovers in the final two quarters to pick up a confidence boasting victory.

The trio of scorers were senior Sky Kollak and junior Brant McGill with 13-points each while Colton Land finished with 12-points and game-best 15-rebounds, half of the Mules total on the boards Saturday night.

Fairfield out-rebounded the hosts, 30-25.

Macklin Snyder, a 5-foot-10 junior, added seven-points which included 4-of-4 free throws in the fourth quarter.

His two charities with :08.9 remaining iced the victory away for Fairfield.

“Norris City is a good 1A team, they have a chance of winning a regional so this was a good win,” said Coach McElravy. “We were down early and I looked at the shot chart and we were shooting 30 percent again. I thought we got it inside better tonight that we did the last time. We gave up too many run-out lay ups.”

Norris City-Omaha-Enfield saw its mark slip to 8-6 on the season, mainly due to not being able to take care of the ball and a bad second half.

The Fighting Cardinals led by as many as 13-points in the first half but they couldn't hold on to the lead.

Coach Evan Wyllie's club didn't get to the foul line as often as the visitors and they started each of the final two quarters with a rash of turnovers that allowed the Mules some easy points.

Fairfield hit 12-of-16 from the stripe while NCOE was just 6-of-12.

“We have had a bad habit of getting a solid ten point lead in the first half and then letting teams get back into the game. We have had that happen a few times this year. I don't know why that is but that is how it has went for us this year,” said Coach Wyllie. “Taking care of the ball against pressure has been kind of an issue. We were up four late in the game but we missed free throws and that never helps. We didn't shoot well from the outside.

The Fighting Cardinals were led by senior Chase Sutton with 17-points.

The 6-foot senior guard went over 1,000-points in the contest for his four-year career.

Six-foot-four senior teammate Jake Delap netted 12-points and grabbed 12-rebounds for NCOE.

Matt Long (nine) and Dakota Bond (eight) chipped in points for the Cards.

Both teams were 19-of-47 from the floor with Fairfield hitting two more 3-point shots (5-to-3) than Norris City-Omaha-Enfield.

From the beginning of the game right up to the half, Coach Wyllie's team looked to have the game well in hand.

NCOE used a 9-2 run to close the first quarter to take a 13-8 lead.

Sutton, Long, Delap and Nolan Sutton, a 5-foot-9 senior guard, all delivered points.

Long opened the run with a 3-pointer from the right wing and N. Sutton closed it with a trey, a shot also from the right wing that beat the buzzer for a five-point advantage.

After a McGill bucket opened the second quarter, NCOE delivered another 9-2 surge.

Delap and Chase Sutton each scored, with Sutton driving to the basket for a nice left-handed lay in for a 19-10 lead with 5:31 before intermission.

Delap grabbed a rebound and his stick back gave the Fighting Cardinals their first double-digit lead at 22-12.

Forcing the Mules into five turnovers in the stanza, NCOE capitalized with four transition scores.

Chase Sutton scored on back-to-back fast breaks, his second one produced a conventional three-point conversion while being fouled by sophomore Jamon Vaughan.

His made free throw gave NCOE a 29-16 lead with just :04.4 left in the half.

Fairfield got a big score just seconds later as the Mules quickly got the ball up the court and the ball ended up in the hands of Vaughan in the right corner.

His 3-point bomb found the mark for a spark heading into the break as Fairfield was down just 10.

Despite giving up the late score, NCOE were poised for a big run to finish off the guests in the second half.

But the Cardinals stumbled out of the gate in the third quarter and that allowed the Mules back into the contest.

Consecutive baskets by McGill, one of which was a three-point play, cut the shortfall in half.

NCOE righted the ship briefly to push the lead back to ten in the third quarter with Delap, Chase Sutton and Long netting points.

Sutton scored again in transition on a long pass from teammate Brantley Neal that forced another Fairfield timeout at 37-27 with 3:48 remaining.

Coach McElravy saw his club settle down while tightening up its defense.

Fairfield scored the game's next seven-points with a 3-pointer from Snyder, a rebound score from Land and a fast break lay in from Vaughan on an assist from junior Caleb Smothers that forced an NCOE TO at 37-34 with 2:15 left.

The two teams traded late quarter 3-pointers (Bond and Kollak) which set the stage for the final quarter at 42-37 NCOE.

For the Cardinals, the beginning of the fourth turned out to be the beginning of the end.

Four early fourth quarter turnovers let the Mules get their first lead since the first half.

Six-straight points, with Land netting two baskets in the run, gave Fairfield a 43-42 lead.

NCOE responded with its final run, with Sutton scoring twice and a three-point point play by Bond on a fast break lay in while being fouled by Kollak.

Sutton's second score with 6:10 left gave NCOE a 49-46 lead.

A free throw by Kollak and a basket by McGill evened the score for the last time.

Kollak hit his biggest shot of the night, a 3-point bomb from the right wing, right in front of the Mules bench, put Fairfield up 52-49.

“We made some shots in the second half. It is nice to look down and see some circles (makes) around numbers on our shot chart,” said Coach McElravy. “Colton had a big game and Sky made a big three right in front of me, that was super.”

Sutton drove the baseline for a score while being fouled by Land with :49.9 left.

But Sutton missed the free throw and the lead was just two.

NCOE's final shot at a tie occurred after a Mules turnover on an over-and-back call with :28.9 remaining.

Sutton's attempt at evening the score on a drive to the basket missed the mark.

Snyder grabbed the rebound and was fouled by Long.

His two made free throws put the game out of reach.

Bond missed a long 3-pointer from the right wing as time expired.

“We started off the season with some injuries and we struggled. We went 0-4 at the Capital Classic and then lost to Harrisburg so we were 0-5 and we have been struggling lately, shooting under 30 percent,” said Coach McElravy. “We were down 10 at half but the kids kept grinding. We dug down and made some stops and made some free throws.”

Fairfield will face another team that it lost to earlier in the season next Saturday when they host Red Hill.

The Mules lost to the Salukis 57-46 at the Lawrence County Capital Classic back on November 28.

“We kind of got away from attacking the basket. We didn't dribble penetrate as much in the second half,” said Coach Wyllie. “We just kind of got a bit stagnant with our offense. They (Fairfield) started making some shots in the second half that they didn't make in the first half. They hit over 50 percent in the second half and that is a mix for a loss.”

NCOE will host Wayne City on Tuesday night.

“I'm really proud of the kids. We had never went two-and-out at Eldorado before. It wasn't just me, the kids were really frustrated about that as well,” said Coach McElravy. “So to get a win against a pretty solid team after the break. Now we have a week to work on things for another revenge game against Red Hill.”

Fairfield (55) – Troyer 0 1 0-0 3, Snyder 0 1 4-4 7, Land 6 0 0-1 12, Borah 0 0 0-0 0, Smothers 0 0 0-0 0, McGill 5 0 3-3 13, Vaughan 1 1 0-0 5, Kollack 1 2 5-8 13, Dagg 1 0 0-0.
2FG-14, 3FG-5, FT-12-16, PF-17.
Norris City-Omaha-Enfield (51) – S. Sutton 1 1 0-0 5, Niehaus 0 0 0-0 0, Long 3 1 0-1 9, Bond 2 1 1-2 8, C. Sutton 8 0 1-2 17, Wells 0 0 0-0 0, Neal 0 0 0-1 0, Delap 4 0 4-6 12.
2FG-18, 3FG-3, FT-6-12, PF-13.
Fouled Out – None.
Technical Fouls – None.