Rochelle explodes for 29 in third to pull away from Ottawa, split I-8 series

ROCHELLE – A late second-quarter rally, a stop to start the third quarter and an ensuing open look at a 3-pointer on the other end gave the Ottawa Pirates the chance to take their first lead of the night Friday in the opening seconds of their Interstate 8 Conference visit to Rochelle.

That shot, however, missed.

The Hubs' Carson Lewis at the other end hit a quick 2 followed immediately by a 3, Rochelle was back ahead by 7 before a minute of second-half clock had ticked by, and Ottawa’s opportunity had slipped away in an eventual 67-55 defeat that saw the hosts outscore the Pirates by 20 points in the third quarter.

“The third quarter wasn’t good,” Pirates coach Mark Cooper said. “We didn’t shoot the ball very well for the first three quarters, and defensively we didn’t really get our teeth into them in the third quarter. It seemed like [Rochelle] had a lot of freedom of movement, and as a result Gerber started shooting the ball well.

“Then it goes from a two-point game to whatever it got to in a hurry. We hung around for stretches in the fourth quarter, but once again, we dug ourselves too deep a hole.”

Lewis, a senior, scored nine of his 11 points in the third quarter, junior guard Van Gerber put in eight of his game-high 20, and sophomore forward Brody Bruns scored seven of his 15 in the third period when Rochelle (12-19 overall, 3-7 in the I-8) waxed Ottawa’s slight 25-23 deficit into a 54-32 hole from which the Pirates couldn’t ascend.

“Our coaches told us at halftime that we were lacking energy and our defense wasn’t good,” Bruns said. “So we came out the second half and brought more energy, started pressing them, and that’s how we got up by a lot – a lot of turnovers and layups."

Owen Sanders scored a team-high 13 points despite struggling with foul trouble, Aric Threadgill added 11 points, Evan Snook scored 10, and Hezekiah Joachim and Dom Parks put in six apiece to lead Ottawa (9-18 overall, 1-9 in the I-8). The Pirates were outrebounded 34-17 and outshot 48.9% (22 of 45) to 44.4% (20 of 45) from the field and 71.4% (15 of 21) to 61.5% (8 of 13) from the free-throw line.

The Rochelle win makes for a series split. Ottawa defeated the Hubs three weeks ago 60-48 on Jan. 31. Since then, the Pirates have gone 0-8. Rochelle has gone 5-3.

“It’s taken us a little bit to get going,” Rochelle coach Tim Thompson said, “but the kids stuck in there. We’ve started shooting the ball better, our defense is getting better, and we’re just scoring the ball a lot better than we did.

“We went down to Ottawa and lost that game badly. We had some guys coming off injuries, and [Ottawa] put it to us. Since that point, we’ve started to play a little better basketball.”

The Pirates will look to avenge one of those late-season losses in their postseason opener Wednesday, facing rival Streator in the semifinals of the Class 3A La Salle-Peru Regional. Opening tip is scheduled for 6 p.m.

“We have to move on,” Cooper said. “We’re going to have to play at a much higher level next week. We’ll get back to practice and work at it and hopefully have a better performance.”