Gabe Steele, Plano turn it around in second half, stun Ottawa

PLANO – Gabe Steele hit a long three-pointer to end the first half on Tuesday night but Plano still trailed by double digits against visiting Ottawa.

That single basket provided a tease of what was to come in the second half as the Reapers rallied behind big offensive nights from Steele and Taron McGowan and pressure team defense to stun the Pirates, 59-56.

“First half we kind of struggled,” Steele said. “But once we went to the locker room kind of had a talk and kind of put things together, we came out here and got going together, we performed a lot better.”

Plano (4-4) trailed 29-13 with a minute remaining before the half after a strong offensive rebound and putback from Kyler Araujo. It was such plays that allowed Ottawa to control the first two quarters.

“We just didn’t come out with a lot of effort today,” Plano coach Kyle Kee said. “We just didn’t have a lot of energy and I don’t know why that was. ”

After being outscored by 13 in the first half, Plano outscored Ottawa by 16 in the second half.

“They got a few more baskets in transition in the second half and we weren’t able to get the ball into the paint in the second half like we did in the first half,” Ottawa coach Mark Cooper said. “Things started to turn for a bit and before you knew it we were chasing for the last couple minutes.”

A true tale of two halves.

“We were kind of stressing a little bit and coach reminded us that there was a whole other half,” McGowan said. “So at half it was 0-0. We were not down. We kept our heads up and were reminded to keep playing and went out there and that’s what we did.”

Steele’s steal turned into an easy layup and McGowan followed with another lay-in to tie the game at 42-42 early in the fourth quarter.

Amari Bryant was unable to complete a three-point play with 5:29 left to play but his basket gave Plano a 44-43 lead. It was the first lead for the Reapers since Kevin Martinez’s basket started the game despite 6:06 being left in the opening quarter.

“Ottawa is so fundamental with what they do, it makes it tough,” Kee said. “Nothing comes easy and we need some things to come a little easy and try to get some easy baskets. And that’s what triggers us, is when we get some steals and easy layups and dunks. We get going pretty good.”

A steal from McGowan set up Steele for a one-handed jam in transition with 2:48 left. McGowan followed with a three-pointer on Plano’s next possession and suddenly the Reapers were ahead 56-47 with 2:33 remaining.

“We stepped up the pressure and not a lot of guys can handle the pressure,” Steele said. “We work a lot on our passes. We need good passes. I work on finishing every game.”

The Reapers were without their sixth man, Alan Contreras, who was out sick. They also found themselves in foul trouble early while the Pirates would have a couple starters foul out.

“When we start fouling people it just takes our aggressiveness away and that’s what happened in the first half,” Kee said. “And we’re not an overly deep team. We’re only playing seven or eight guys. In the third quarter I think we only had two fouls which was huge.”

Ottawa (6-3) did its part to not go away.

Araujo’s three-pointer from the corner drew the Pirates to within 57-56 with 22.3 seconds left.

After Ethan Taxis split two free throws to extend Plano’s lead to 58-56, the Pirates were whistled for a moving screen. After another foul, Taxis duplicated his effort at the free throw line to make it 59-56.

Aric Threadgill had his game-tying three-point try rim out just before the buzzer sounded.

Threadgill and Owen Sanders led the Pirates with 15 points each. The Reapers held Sanders scoreless in the second half. Sanders also snagged 13 rebounds. Evan Snook added 13 points for the Pirates.

Steele led the Reapers, scoring 16 of his game-high 21 points in the second half. McGowan had 17 points. Martinez had 8 points and Bryant chipped in with 7 points.