Boys basketball: Ottawa wins, Streator falls, but they’ll meet for 3rd at ‘Shootin’ the Rock’

OTTAWA – The Ottawa boys basketball team grabbed an early lead on Marengo and didn’t look back in a 52-37 victory Friday, while Streator trailed early against Oak Forest and couldn’t fully recover in falling 65-53. Each team finished up pool play Friday at the Dean Riley “Shootin the Rock” Thanksgiving Tournament at Kingman Gymnasium.

The two longtime rivals will face each other in the third-place game at 3 p.m. Saturday ahead of the Pontiac vs. La Salle-Peru championship tilt.

Ottawa 52, Marengo 27

The Pirates (2-1) scored the game’s opening seven points and held a 20-9 first-quarter advantage on the Indians (0-3), as senior post Cooper Knoll scored 10 points, and senior guard Keevon Peterson added eight.

The hosts extended their lead to 36-16 at halftime before netting the first 14 points of the second half to put the contest on ice.

For the game, Ottawa shot 57% (20 of 35) from the field while holding Marengo to 28% (10 of 36) and forcing 17 turnovers.

“Coach (Cooper) talks about making each other better and playing as a team. I thought we did both pretty well tonight.”

—  Cooper Knoll, Ottawa senior forward

“I thought we were OK defensively tonight, but we still made a few mistakes that allowed Marengo some easy baskets,” Ottawa coach Mark Cooper said. “We are a team that moving forward is just going to play very clean on the defensive end of the floor to have success.

“We weren’t as fluid as we need to be on offense, but we also are still going with a number of different player combinations on the floor. We are still fighting to find cohesiveness depending on who is or isn’t on the floor at any given time. We didn’t shoot very well (13 of 23) from the line, and that will have to improve.”

Knoll finished with a double-double – a game-high 16 points (6 of 7 FGs, 4 of 4 FTs) and 10 rebounds — while blocking a pair of shots. Peterson added 13 points and three steals, Huston Hart eight points and four assists, and Tristian Finley six points.

“I felt like with every game we have started to click a little better, played steadier and gained a little more confidence,” Knoll said. “I was able to find some open space, and it seemed like every time I did, one of my teammates found me. I think we are all starting to find our roles and working to be the best we can be within them. Coach Cooper has a plan in place for us, and it’s our job to follow the plan we are given.

“Coach talks about making each other better and playing as a team. I thought we did both pretty well tonight.”

Marengo was led by 15 points and five rebounds from Derek Bibbings.

Oak Forest 65, Streator 53

The Bengals (2-1) held a four-point lead early in the second quarter before putting together a 10-0 run, which included a pair of layups by Je’Sean Shannon and back-to-back 3-pointers by Amari Brownlee-Davis. That put Oak Forest up 33-23 at halftime.

“We showed some heart and fight in the second half for sure, but we just dug ourselves too big of hole to climb out of.”

—  Beau Doty, Streator boys basketball coach

“We were awful in the first half. It’s as simple as that,” Streator coach Beau Doty said. “We tried to scheme a little bit from what we saw of Oak Forest on Tuesday and went with a zone to start things off. We talked pregame about even in a zone defense we had to be active, but I guess we took it as we could just stand around.

“We let Oak Forest become too comfortable on the offensive end.”

The Bulldogs (1-2) still trailed by 10 heading to the fourth, but used a 13-2 burst – four points by Landon Muntz, a 3-pointer by Logan Aukland and hoops each from Christian Benning, Isaiah Weibel and Cade Peterson – to close to within 55-50 with just under two minutes to play.

But over the next 40 seconds, a layup by Shannon, three free throws by Brownlee-Davis and two from the stripe by Nolan put the game out of reach.

Brownlee-Davis led Oak Forest with a game-best 19 points, with Nolan right behind with 18 and Shannon adding 10.

Aukland paced Streator with 13 points. Benning finished with 11 points and eight rebounds, while Quinn Baker had 10 points and five rebounds.

“We showed some heart and fight in the second half for sure, but we just dug ourselves too big of hole to climb out of,” Doty said. “We put ourselves in that situation because we played timid. I liked the team I saw in the second half, but in the first half right from the opening tip, we had nowhere close to the energy or the fight we need to have each and every game.”