Plano Christmas Classic: Ottawa overcomes Hinckley-Big Rock’s strong start to open with victory

PLANO – The unseeded Hinckley-Big Rock Royals enjoyed a great start to the 58th Plano Christmas Classic, leading sixth-seeded Ottawa throughout the first half by as many as seven points and still holding an advantage a few minutes into the third quarter.

It was the Pirates, however, paced by 21 points from senior Luke Cushing – 17 of those coming in the pivotal middle quarters – who earned a second-round, 3:30 p.m. Tuesday matchup with No. 3-seeded Burlington Central in the championship bracket via a 57-42 win over HBR late Monday morning.

“They shot it well early, and we maybe overhelped a little bit [defensively] at times,” Pirates coach Mark Cooper said. “But we managed to avoid getting in too bad of a position in the first half, we rebounded it better in the second half and they probably didn’t shoot it quite as well.

“Burlington Central is very good. They’re a favorite to be playing in the supersectional in our gym, but this is what you sign up for when you get in a holiday tournament. You want to get in the winners’ bracket and play quality competition, and that’s what we’re going to get tomorrow.”

The Royals (8-5) – who are slated for a 10:30 a.m. consolation-bracket meeting with Coal City on Tuesday – shot a red-hot 60% (6 of 10) from the field and from 3-point range (3 of 5) in the opening stanza against Ottawa and continued that early into the second quarter to build an 18-11 advantage.

That’s when Cushing got going, following a two-point first quarter with 10 in the second and seven more in the third. His steal and layup exactly three minutes into the third quarter flipped a one-point Royals advantage to a one-point Pirates lead, 32-31.

Ottawa (7-3) would not trail again, putting the game away by outscoring HBR, 15-6, in the fourth.

“We played well. We shot really well,” Royals coach Seth Sanderson said. “We were worried about [Ottawa’s] ball pressure, but I thought we took care of the ball well in the first half. When you string those two things together – you don’t turn it over and you shoot well – things obviously go well.

“But Ottawa is just such a fundamentally sound, disciplined team. They’re just going to keep doing the right things over and over. For two and a half, three quarters, that was all right, but in the fourth quarter they started to stretch things out.”

In addition to his game-best 21 points, Cushing added four assists, six rebounds and five steals in an all-around effort.

“Luke has the spurtability in him on both ends of the floor where he can have an impact,” Cooper said. “There was a stretch today where he did a lot of good things for us.”

Braiden Miller was a force as well for Ottawa, posting a double-double with his 13 points and 10 rebounds. Payton Knoll (nine points, two assists) and Anthony Miller (eight points including a key third-quarter buzzer-beater, six rebounds) also led the Pirates, who outshot Hinckley-Big Rock 46.9% (23 of 49) to 36.4% (16 of 44), outrebounded the Royals, 31-21, and won the turnover battle, 15-18.

For HBR, Richard Hintzsche dropped in 12 points to go with four assists and four rebounds. Judson Scott contributed 11 points and five rebounds, with Andy Gawel, Ben Hintzsche and Gavin Cotton – who provided a nice spark off the bench – scoring five points apiece.

“We’ll take the positives from this,” Sanderson said. “We’ve got 24 hours, and then we’re back here again, which will be the best thing for us.”