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Prep Hoops: All Around Effort For Eagles

There is some pomp and circumstance that comes with being ranked in the Illinois Associated Press Top 10. And at No. 6 in Class 2A, one thing that Eldorado head coach Josh Bradley knows his team is going to get each and every night is everyone’s best shot.

Saturday, at Norris City-Omaha-Enfield, Bradley and the Eagles had to endure an early onslaught from the Fighting Cardinals, which included seven lead changes and two ties.

In the end, Eldorado survived the storm and walked out with a 92-57 win, its second of the weekend as the Eagles knocked off Edwards County 70-53 at home Friday night at Duff-Kingston Gymnasium.

“Being the sixth ranked team in the state, you are going to get everyone’s best shot,” Bradley said. “Norris City came out fired up, ready to go and they were making some shots and we weren’t engaged early, I thought like needed to be on the defensive end of the ball.”

Eldorado jumped out to a 14-5 lead midway through the first and then closed out the quarter up one, 16-15.

To start the second, NCOE took an 18-16 lead and the see-saw battle began, but after the Cardinals took a 30-29 lead, Eldorado closed out the quarter on a 12-3 run to lead 42-33 at halftime.

Bradley and company didn’t change much in the second half, sticking with their man defense, the same defense they used in the first half. Bradley said the difference in the second half was playing under control.

Eldorado began the second half on a 10-3 run to take a 52-36 lead at the 5:20 mark and pushed the advantage to 20 at 56-36, before closing the quarter out 70-43.

The Eagles put four players in double figures as Ethan Partridge had a triple-double on the night, finishing with game-high 27 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists.

Jacob Traxler added 18 points, while Ray May came off the bench for 14 points and Braden Attebury tacked on 12.

Saturday was similar to Friday night’s Black Diamond Conference win over Edwards County where EHS put five players in double figures, including a game-high 21 points from Max Kasiar.

May dumped in 13 points, while John Meredith, Partridge and Attebury all had 10 points.

The balanced scoring is something that Bradley said he has been emphasizing since the Eldorado Holiday Tournament.

“Braden had a great holiday tournament and people know who our scorers are and for some of our other guys, it’s time for them to step up. We feel like we have some guys that can score, they just haven’t done it and to see John, Ray and Max kind of step their scoring up the last couple of games, hopefully bodes well for us going down the stretch.”

<em>Michael Dann covers prep and college sports for the Harrisburg Daily Register and Eldorado Daily Journal. Follow him on Twitter: @spydieshooter.</em>

Eldorado 11 26 12 21 &mdash; 70

Edwards County 05 10 13 25 &mdash; 53

Eldorado: Oglesby 0 2-5 2, Meredith 2 3-6 10, Partridge 4 2-4 10, Attebury 3 4-6 10, Traxler 2 0-1 4, Kasiar 8 5-12 21, May 5 3-5 13. Totals: 24 19-39 70.

Edwards County:Schnicker 4 2-2 13, Brake 1 0-0 3, Wallace 4 1-2 11, Columbia 1 0-0 3, Rivers 1 0-0 1 2, M. Schmittler 1 2-2 4, N. Schmittler 6 5-12 17. Totals: 18 10-19 53

3-point FG: EHS 1 (Meredith), ECHS 7 (Schnicker 3, Wallace 2, Brake Columbia). Fouls: EHS 19, ECHS 29.

Eldorado 16 26 28 22 &mdash; 92

Norris City-Omaha-Enfield 15 18 10 14 &mdash; 57

Eldorado: Meredith 3 2-2 8, Oglesby 1 2-2 4, Partridge 13 1-3 27, Traxler 9 0-1 18, Attebury 6 0-0 12, Kasiar 0 0-0 0, May 5 4-5 14, Barton 0 0-0 0, Watt 1 0-0 2, Scott 1 2-2 5, Jenkins 1 0-0 2, Cannimore 0 0-0 0, Byrd 0 0-1 0. Totals: 40 11-16 92

NCOE: Long 9 0-2 20, Taylor 0 0-0 0, Verble 2 0-0 5, Baumgart 4 1-1 10, Wells 4 6-8 14, Healy 2 0-2 6, O&rsquo;Neal 0 2-2 2, Skaggs 0 0-0 0, Simmons 0 0-0 0, Barton 0 0-0 0. Totals: 21 9-15 57.

3-point FG: EHS 1 (Scott), NCOE 6 (Long 2, Healy 2, Verble, Baumgart). Fouls: EHS 19, NCOE 18.