NCOE's C.J. Richardson looks for a teammate between Ian Dawes and Brinnen Norris during Friday night's GEC Tournament championship game between Crab Orchard and NCOE in Norris City.
Crab Orchard's Robby Rooker brings up the ball during Friday night's GEC Tournament championship game between Crab Orchard and NCOE in Norris City.
NCOE's Joe Melton takes a shot during Friday night's GEC Tournament championship game between Crab Orchard and NCOE in Norris City.
NORRIS CITY — It was how any senior basketball player might dream of ending their high school careers.
NCOE's Joe Melton took a pass off the backboard from fellow senior Ty Money and threw down a monster slam to stamp the exclamation point on the Fighting Cardinals' 60-42 win over Crab Orchard in the championship game of the Greater Egyptian Conference Tournament on Friday night.
"We've never done that before in our lives," Melton said with a smile. "It just kind of happened. He was running the floor, I called for it, he tossed it up. I'll probably never forget that."
The 6-foot-7 Melton, who scored 25 points, also received a technical foul for the dunk for hanging on the rim, but it was quite a capper to NCOE's victory and a 12-1 pandemic-shortened season that didn't begin until February.
It was also the closest thing to a postseason win any Illinois high school team will experience as the GEC was the only local conference having a tournament and no regionals being held.
"It was a great way to go out," said NCOE coach Jordan Johnson. "Going all the way back to July, these seniors were uncertain if they were going to get to play or not. They stayed ready and continued to prepare like we were going to have a season. They kept their heads in a positive space and were motivated.
"They played every game like it might be their last. They treated it that way. I didn't have to do much to get them ready to go. They've been ready all year."
NCOE jumped out to a 12-3 lead with baskets from Money, Melton and another senior, C.J. Richardson. But the Trojans got four 3-pointers and 16 total points from 6-4 senior Noah Herring in the first half and pulled within 24-21 at the break.
The game's key stretch was the start of the third quarter when the Cardinals went on an 11-0 run starting with back-to-back treys from Richardson, then Melton followed a nifty hook with a three-point play after NCOE grabbed four offensive rebounds on the same possession.
That made it 38-23 and the Trojans, who finished 9-7, never recovered.
"We were hoping to hang around longer," said Crab Orchard coach Jon Brown. "Things sort of got away from us. They give us problems with their experience and size. A lot of mismatches. Herring kept us in the game early with some big shots from the perimeter but it was hard to get any type of flow going inside. They defended that pretty well."
Herring finished with a game-high 26 points and Robby Rooker had 12 for Crab Orchard.
Richardson and Money both tallied 12 points to reach double figures for the Cardinals. Money's total could have been higher if not for his tasty assist to cap off Melton's 25-point night.
The sweet alley-oop put NCOE up 54-26 with 2:49 remaining. Johnson cleared his bench with a minute left to allow his seniors to receive a nice ovation from the home fans.
"They've never done that in a game and never even done it in open gym," Johnson said. "What a way to end it and what a night to do it."
March 13, 2021 at 09:33AM
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Boys Basketball | NCOE downs Crab Orchard to win GEC Tournament title - The Southern
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