11/25/2025
BY JACK BULLOCK
NORRIS CITY – It was quite the battle between arguably the best two teams in the Greater Egyptian Conference on Tuesday night in the season opener for both Norris City-Omaha-Enfield and Hardin County.

Each club had a bad quarter with Hardin County (second) and NCOE (third) allowing the Cardinals to get ahead and then the Cougars to rally.

It was also a game that featured something that, after this season, will never happen again in high school basketball in the State of Illinois.

With the score knotted at 42-42 with 4:50 left in the the fourth quarter, Hardin County head coach Rodney Lane decide that he needed to milk some clock.

So he instructed point guard senior Landon Fricker to hold the ball, which he did.

The ploy nearly worked for the Cougars.

Sitting back in a zone NCOE, per the instructions of head coach Jordan Johnson, watched Fricker hold the ball and the clock run.

This went on for nearly four minutes before Coach Lane took a timeout with :55.5 remaining in regulation.

Hardin County went into its offense and got what it wanted.

The Cougars got the ball to senior Nate Massie in the lane and his pass to teammate Caden Heberer underneath the basket in the final seconds should have provided a score and the winning margin.

But NCOE's senior Jaxon Simmons came out of no where and deflected the potential game winner.

The subsequent rebound and timeout gave the Cardinals the ball with :04.8 left.

An inbounds pass after a timeout turned into a turnover at the buzzer as the game went into overtime.

After a basket by Massie, Simmons scored twice in the final four minutes of overtime as the Cardinals managed to hold off Hardin County, 46-45 to secure the first win of the season for Coach Johnson.

“We knew that this was going to be a tough game. I told the kids in the locker room that our defense won this game for us tonight,” said Coach Johnson. “We were all on the same page tonight and we were communicating. At the end of the day that is where you win ballgames.”

Not only was it a good way to start the campaign, it gave the Fighting Cardinals a leg up in the GEC standings in the new format for the league in which all members play each other twice in the regular season with all of the games counting towards the conference title.

The Cardinals were led in scoring by senior Owen Russell with 16 while Simmons added 10, including all four points in the overtime.

Senior Conner Graves added 10 for the Cardinals in the victory.

Massie scored 17 for the Cougars and junior Bryden Banks scored 12.

Fricker finished with 10 for Hardin County.

“We had Banks and Heberer both having to come out of the game having cramps and Massie was over here sick so with them on the bench I decided if they were going to let us hold it I was going to hold it,” said Coach Lane about his strategy. “I thought it was a well played game for the first game of the year. I thought our kids played well.”

(CONTINUED)

Heberer scored all four of his points in the first quarter as the Cougars and Cardinal both got off to good starts.

Massie got the scoring going early for Hardin County with three scores inside.

Fricker dished out a pair of assists early to Massie and Heberer and the third basket on the inside by Massie made it 13-10.

Senior guard Caden Sexton hit his only shot of the game, a 3-pointer in the first quarter, and a rebound basket by Graves staked the Cardinals to a 17-15 lead at the end of the first quarter.

The Cougars second quarter wasn't what Coach Lane was looking for.

Hitting just 3-of-11 shots and committing four turnovers, Hardin County was outscored 17-7 the remainder of the half that ended at 34-24 NCOE.

A trio of baskets from Russell, all on the inside, got the Cardinals offense buzzing.

Senior guard Javan Garrett scored just five points in the game for NCOE, but the two made shots were big.

A score on a fast break lay up off of a Cougars' turnover and a 3-pointer from the right wing made it 34-22 NCOE with under a minute left in the half.

Christian Winters, a senior for Hardin County, scored on a cut to the basket and assist from Massie to cut their deficit to 10 at the break.

As rough as the second quarter went for HC, the NCOE third quarter was on par.

The Cardinals also hit on just 3-of-11 shots, matching the Cougars' second frame shooting problems.

Banks, Fricker and Massie came up huge offensively in the third.

Fricker converted a conventional three-point play that began a 13-2 scoring streak resulting in a 40-38 Cougars lead with 2:00 left in the quarter.

Also in that run was a pair of shots by Banks, a 3-pointer from the top of the arc and a rebound basket off of a missed free throw.

A score by Russell in the paint sent the teams to the fourth quarter even at 40-40.

Massie scored inside for Hardin County and Simmons put in a shot for NCOE to begin the fourth before the Coach Lane decision to hold the ball.

“I thought we had some shots at the rim that a couple of weeks from now will be going in for us and we will make our outside shots down the road,” said Coach Johnson. “It was a great atmosphere for opening night. I knew it was going to be a tough game. They had everyone coming back from last year and so did we. I always enjoy coaching against Coach Lane. We've had a lot of battles.”

With the implementation of the IHSA going to a shot clock next year in all varsity games, you won't see situations like that (stalling) again.

NCOE ended up 22-of-48 overall from the field, 2-of-11 from downtown.

The Cougars finished 19-of-38 and 2-of-5.

But 14-turnovers, including three in the overtime, allowed NCOE to pick up the important league win.

Both teams head into post-Thanksgiving tournaments next week with NCOE playing at Hamilton County and Hardin County traveling to Goreville.

“We decided if they (NCOE) weren't going to guard us then we would just buy time,” said Coach Lane. “They let us hold it so we did for the last one (shot) and we got what we wanted. We got a really good shot at it but the kid (Simmons) made a big play for them.”