12-20-13
BY JACK BULLOCK
ELIZABETHTOWN – When it comes to statistics, one category proved to be the key difference in Friday night’s Norris City-Omaha-Enfield victory over Hardin County.

Most coaches will tell you when you rule the glass you rule the game.

In their road Greater Egyptian Conference match up, head coach Byron Gravens witnessed a total domination of the rebounding stat sheet.

Out-boarding the Cougars 36-13 and allowing Hardin County only two offensive rebounds, the Fighting Cardinals pulled away in the second half for a 45-25 victory in spoiling the hosts’ homecoming game.

Dakota Wheeler, NCOE’s 6-foot-4 man in the middle, was the man in the paint on this night.

He led all scorers with 14-points while corralling 19-rebounds in the game in which the defensive end of the floor outweighed the Cards problems offensively.

“He (Wheeler) owned the glass. I told him if you want you can take that ball home with you because you had it all night,” said Coach Graven.

While both clubs struggled shooting the ball, NCOE did the right things on the other end for the win.

NCOE forced 15-turnovers by the hosts and an 8-of-40 shooting performance (20 percent).

The Cougars were just 6-of-26 from the 3-point line.

These things, in a self-evident way, summed up the Cardinals’ road conference triumph.

“The foul troubles early got us in a rut but when you don’t rebound and you don’t make any shots it isn’t going to be a good night,” said Hardin County head coach Rodney Lane. “I thought our defense was pretty good but we just didn’t rebound. We actually contested shots but we let them rebound and put it back in the basket.”

Besides Wheeler’s 14-markers, NCOE got 13-points from junior Blake Karnes, who was part of a parade to the foul line late in the game.

Karnes finished 9-of-10 from the stripe, as the Cardinals were 18-of-27.

The Cardinals didn’t shoot the ball well and turned it over too much, but they survived by playing good defense and getting to the foul line.

“We see a zone and we see a zone all the time because we play zone and we practice it. But then we don’t want to attack. Our offensive execution wasn’t very good tonight,” said Coach Graven. “We should have (played well defensively) because those five days we had off of school, when we could practice we worked on defense. When you have that many turnovers, you can overcome it if you play good defense. We didn’t shoot the ball well. The only shots we could make were lay ups.”

The fouls mounted so fast in the second half that Hardin County had the visitors in the bonus at the 6:47 mark in the final frame.

Hardin saw its mark slip to 5-4 without a single player in double-figures in scoring.

Five-foot-ten senior Skyler Smith netted seven points while Tanner Dutton and Logan Conn added six points apiece.

With both teams starting out slow on offense, NCOE finally got some separation at the end of the first quarter.

NCOE scored six consecutive points to close the quarter, turning a 9-8 deficit into a 14-9 advantage.

Karnes, Wheeler and Chase Sutton each scored in the run, with the baskets from Wheeler and Sutton coming on nice cuts to the basket against the Hardin County zone.

The Cougars got a quick 3-pointer from Smith to cut the NCOE lead to just 14-12 with 6:54 remaining before the half.

However that was the lone score for Hardin County in the second quarter.

The next nine points belonged to NCOE as they reached a double-figure lead at intermission.

Karnes got the sprint going with a rebound bucket off of his own missed shot, which was followed by NOCE’s only made 3-point shot of the night.

Senior guard Cole Tucker dialed up long distance from the top of the arc for a 19-12 lead with 4:35 to go.

Jacob Taylor scored on a nice assist from Tucker off of an offensive rebound and an additional score from sophomore Jacob Delp made it 23-12 at the break.

Despite hitting just 4-of-19 from the floor and committing seven turnovers in the first half, Coach Lane’s troops headed to the locker room down just 11.

The hosts made their only real run of the night in the third quarter, a 7-1 crusade with senior Jeremy Hicks scoring on a nice reverse lay in after grabbing a rebound to get the ball rolling the Cougars way briefly.

The first of two 3-pointers by Conn in the third closed the gap to just 26-18 with 2:52 left.

NCOE led 32-22 heading into the fourth quarter after Wheeler grabbed another missed shot and scored in the final seconds.

Hardin’s Conn closed the frame with a long trey from the left wing

As it would turn out, that was the last hurrah for the Cougars.

It was fitting on a night when Hardin County was having a celebration that there should be a parade.

The Cougars sent the Cards (Wheeler and Karnes) to the foul line 16-times in the final minutes.

This duo hit 14 of the attempts.

After Hardin County’s Dutton drilled home a 3-pointer at the 3:51 mark, NCOE scored the games final nine points from the line.

Karnes hit eight in a row to finish off the night for the 5-2 Cardinals.

Despite 19-turnovers by NCOE, the Cards picked up a key conference win.

Coach Graven’s squad was just 13-of-37 from the field (35.1 percent) but the rebounding edge didn’t give the Cougars many second chance opportunities.

Both teams’ head into the Christmas break as they prepare for the Eldorado Holiday Tournament.

Both get to take on SIRR conference teams as NCOE faces Harrisburg at 4:45 pm on Thursday, December 26 while Hardin County will take on Massac County at 7 pm.