Boys basketball: Plainfield Central fends off Ottawa

OTTAWA – After a first quarter that saw both teams combine for 65% shooting, Plainfield Central used a strong defensive second quarter and a key 13-0 run in the middle part of the frame to grab the momentum from Ottawa on Wednesday night at Kingman Gymnasium.

The Pirates sliced a 21-point third-quarter disadvantage to eight, but in the end the Wildcats prevailed with a 60-49 victory.

“Our defense created a lot of our offense in the second quarter, and really, defense was the biggest key for us the whole game,” said Plainfield Central coach Tim Boe, whose team improved to 7-14 with its third win in its past four games. “We were able to force a few turnovers in the second and turn them into layups, and then the confidence carried over to our perimeter shooting. I feel like we have guys that can knock down shots and they also did an excellent job of finding each other for open looks.

“We gave up some layups out of our full-court pressure tonight, but I think we got more out of it than we gave up.”

“What really matters is are you in the game when the team is playing well and are you part of why that is.”

—  Ari Williams, Plainfield Central senior guard

The teams’ aforementioned hot start had the visitors up 17-16 after the opening eight minutes.

The Wildcats then used a steal turned layup by reserve Ari Williams and two free throws by Quinn Krueger ahead of three straight 3-pointers by Ethan Marshall, Daniel Doherty and Williams to push the lead to 34-20 and eventually 38-22 at halftime.

Williams finished with a team-high 15 points to go along with four rebounds and three assists for Plainfield Central. Avery Rogoz registered 13 points, 10 rebounds, three assists, two steals and two blocks, while Krueger had 12 points and Doherty eight.

“It’s cool, I guess, to say you’re starting, but really, it’s just a label,” said Williams, who has started a few games this season. “What really matters is: Are you in the game when the team is playing well, and are you part of why that is? My mindset coming off the bench is to just come in with a lot of energy and either try and help the team keep things going or help it get things turned around.

“I feel like we’ve really picked things up in our defense the last few games, and we’ve also rebounded the ball better. Those two things have helped us to be better on the offensive end. Our bread and butter is to get out in transition, and tonight we were able to do that, especially in the second quarter.”

“This is Ari’s second really solid game in a row,” Boe said. “He is really trending up right now, and that is great to see.”

Ottawa (7-8) closed the gap to 50-36 heading to the fourth with six points from Cooper Knoll and five from Huston Hart in the third.

The hosts then cut the lead to eight on a Tristan Finley free throw, but that came with only 50 seconds remaining.

Hart paced Ottawa, which hadn’t played since Jan. 5, with 16 points and four rebounds, while Finley had a career-high 13 points, three rebounds, two assists and two steals. Knoll posted 11 points, six rebounds and six steals.

“We only finished the game with 11 turnovers, but we may have had half of those in the second quarter with a couple leading to easy layups and three leading to transition 3-pointers,” Ottawa coach Mark Cooper said. “It was a one-possession game, and then all of a sudden, we are down double figures in a hurry, and we were fighting to get back into it the rest of the night.

“We didn’t cave in and showed some fight in the second half, but we have to play a little bit better than we did tonight. Defensively we have to get back to the team we were for much of the early season. We just never got our teeth into them defensively, especially in the first half. They had a lot of freedom of movement, and they were able to do what they wanted. As the game went along, I thought we were better defensively, but we just dug ourselves too big a hole with our play in the second quarter.”

Both squads are back in action Friday. Plainfield Central is at Oswego East in a Southwest Prairie Conference game, while Ottawa hosts Sycamore in Interstate 8 Conference action.