Reapers blitz Ottawa early en route to I-8 victory

OTTAWA — The Plano Reapers came out ready and running Saturday night.

The Reapers' defensive pressure forced the Ottawa Pirates into a dozen turnovers — while Plano also put up 33 points — during the initial eight minutes of action.

That explosive start propelled Plano to a 75-52 win over Ottawa in a key Interstate Eight Conference game at Kingman Gym.

As a result, the Reapers (17-7 overall), along with Sycamore, are perched in the I-8's catbird seat with a 7-2 mark. Ottawa (13-7), which hosts Kaneland (6-3 I-8) on Friday, is 5-3.

"Credit Plano," Pirates coach Mark Cooper said. "They kind of smelled blood in the water, and they jumped on us, and it just got out of hand in a hurry.

"They were really good early, and we weren't."

"I think there was definitely a sense that we should have got that one last time," said Reapers coach Kyle Kee in reference to the teams' first matchup Dec. 20 in Plano, a 61-55 Ottawa win, a game in which the Reapers had a nine-point halftime lead, "and (our kids) kind of wanted to prove a point a little bit."

Six-foot-six Robbie Taylor (11 points, 11 rebounds, two blocked shots) got the Reapers rolling with a 3-pointer at the outset and on their way to a 10-0 advantage two minutes in. The Reapers — who connected on 15 of 19 field goals (3 for 4 on 3s) during the opening stanza (79%) — closed the quarter with 21 straight points over the final three and a half minutes and were up 33-5 after one, paced by 11 points from 6-8 Griffin Cross (17 points, three blocks), who didn't play in the teams' first meeting.

Plano got scoring contributions from six players.

"We knew they'd be a little down without (injured Ottawa standout scorer Myles) Tucker playing, and I think we kind of just took advantage of them early and really got after them," Kee said. "I mean, we just kind of blitzed them right off the bat.

"We're getting really aggressive with our press, and, you know, if you're not almost perfect with what you do against it, we've gotten a lot of turnovers. This game's all about getting easy baskets, and if you can force some turnovers and get easy baskets, you're going to win.

"Everything just seemed to kind of roll. Kids were playing well, getting hands in passing lanes."

"They came out and got after us," Coach Cooper said. "We didn't handle it very well; had too many live-ball turnovers that led to transition points and put us in a hole we weren't able to get out of."

Plano's margin was 22 points (40-18) at the break and 23 (56-33) through three periods.

A 10-point spurt by the Pirates to begin the fourth quarter — a bucket inside by Evan Evola, five points from Anthony Cooper (15 points, seven rebounds, four steals) and a falling-down 3-ball by TJ McDonnell (13 points) — made the score 56-43 with 5:55 remaining.

Gabe Rodriguez (16 points, four steals) immediately answered with a trey before Taylor later converted an old-fashioned three-point play.

"We didn't roll over and let them have their way with us the last three quarters. It was a good sign that we had fight left in us," Coach Cooper said. "We got it back to 13, but it's just so hard when you're down that far to climb all the way back.

"There's a reason that (Plano is) at the top of our league standings. They did everything they needed to do to win."

"I'm proud of the kids," Kee said. "You know, it's tough to come in here and play ... and to come in here and win — and win the way we did — it's a really good win for us, and we're happy. Ottawa's definitely a quality team.

"It gives us hope for the conference (championship). It just puts us in position."

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At Kingman Gym, Ottawa

Plano 75, Ottawa 52

(Key: FG-FGA FT-FTA TP)

PLANO (75) — G. Rodriguez 6-8 2-2 16, Accidentale 2-4 2-2 7, Cross 8-10 0-2 17, Johnson 3-5 0-0 6, Taylor 4-13 2-7 11, Padilla 1-1 0-0 2, U. Rodriguez 0-0 0-0 0, Walton 4-7 2-5 10, Smith 0-0 0-0 0, Vann 1-2 0-0 2, Santoria 1-1 0-0 2, Martinez 1-1 0-0 2. Totals 31-52 8-18 75.

OTTAWA (52) — Cooper 6-7 2-2 15, Kaufman 0-8 3-4 3, Sholders 0-5 0-0 0, Vogel 4-7 0-0 8, McDonnell 4-8 2-5 13, Jones 1-2 2-2 4, Roether 0-1 0-0 0, Arroyo 0-2 0-0 0, Evola 2-5 0-0 4, Vandervort 1-2 1-3 3, Gage 1-2 0-0 2, Bianchi 0-1 0-0 0, Pantig 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 19-50 10-16 52.

Plano (17-7, 7-2) 33 7 16 19 — 75

Ottawa (13-7, 5-3) 5 13 15 19 — 52

3-point goals — Plano 5-9 (G. Rodriguez 2-3, Cross 1-1, Accidentale 1-2, Taylor 1-2, Johnson 0-1); Ottawa 4-17 (McDonnell 3-5, Cooper 1-2, Jones 0-1, Bianchi 0-1, Arroyo 0-2, Kaufman 0-3, Sholders 0-3). Rebounds — Plano 35 (Taylor 11); Ottawa 26 (Cooper 7). Assists — Plano 15 (Johnson 6); Ottawa 9 (Sholders 5). Steals — Plano 13 (G. Rodriguez 4); Ottawa 11 (Cooper 4). Blocked shots — Plano 8 (Cross 3); Ottawa 0. Turnovers — Plano 17; Ottawa 20. Total fouls (none fouled out) — Plano 17; Ottawa 14. Technical foul — Cross.