The Kaneland and Ottawa boys basketball teams matched each other nearly point-for-point in the opening 14 minutes of Tuesday’s Interstate 8 Conference game at Kingman Gym.

But with two minutes to go before halftime, the unbeaten Knights put together a 10-0 run to hold a 12-point halftime lead, then used a 9-0 run in the third quarter to eventually pull away from the Pirates for a 70-43 victory.

The win improved Kaneland to 29-0 overall and 9-0 in league play to clinch the outright I-8 championship.

Ottawa dropped to 13-12 and 2-7.

“We’re getting every opponent’s best shot,” Kaneland coach Ernie Colombe said. “Ottawa is a very good team, and Mark Cooper is a fantastic coach. Regardless of any situation, you’d better be ready to go when you play Ottawa, especially in this gym.

“I felt like we played a very solid overall game. Early on we had to make some adjustments, and those seemed to help get us going. Ottawa was matching us shot-for-shot, but then we were able to put a nice run together going into halftime. We were able to get to the basket a lot tonight, and you hope when you do that you shoot a high percentage like we did tonight.”

Before the benches emptied with just under four minutes to play, the Knights had made 20 of their 40 shot attempts. They finished hitting 64% [32 of 50], led by get-to-the-rim senior guard Marshawn Cocroft, who sank 11 of 13 overall, all three of his tries from beyond the arc and finished with a game-high 25 points.

“We saw that [Ottawa] had played Sycamore really tough last week and had won last Friday night, so we knew they were playing well,” Cocroft said. “We knew we had to come out strong, and we did, but so did they.”

Kaneland’s 6-9 junior Jeffrey Hassan made 7 of 8, including a trio of thunderous dunks, for 14 points while grabbing six rebounds and blocking three shots. Connor Kimme added 12 points and six rebounds, and Isaiah Gipson scored eight points.

“Getting to the basket, that’s our thing,” Cocroft said. “We always want to be attacking the rim and not settling for outside shoots. I felt like we did that well tonight, and then finally our defense picked up and we were able to convert in transition.”

Ottawa led 17-16 after the opening quarter, as Colt Bryson swished two triples, part of his 10-point frame, while Owen Sanders added the other seven.

The Pirates held a 22-21 advantage after a layup by Jack Carroll with 5 minutes, 30 seconds showing on the second-quarter clock, but from there Kaneland scored 16 of the game’s next 19 points, starting with a Hassan breakaway, two-handed slam to hold a 37-25 lead at the intermission.

Kaneland hit all 10 of its shots in the second and was 17 for 20 shooting for the first half.

The hosts closed to 40-31 in the opening two minutes of the third on consecutive hoops by Hezekiah Joachim and Carroll, but a Cocroft trey, two drives by Hassan and a wing 3 from Jalen Carter helped the visitors lead 52-36 heading to the fourth.

The teams traded baskets to begin the final period before Kaneland exploded on a 14-0 burst.

Carroll led Ottawa with 15 points, including three 3s, while Sanders had 11 points and seven rebounds. Bryson had 10 points.

Ottawa finished 18 of 46 [39%] shooting and lost both the rebounding (23-20) and turnover (13-9) battles.

“Colt gave us a nice surge offensively to start the game, and we were able to keep the game competitive until mid-third quarter, but they just athletically wear you down,” Ottawa coach Mark Cooper said. “There weren’t a lot of stoppages in play [only six fouls called combined and no free throws shot], so guys were getting tired on the floor, and it was hard to get guys in and out.

“Kaneland is just a very good team, and there is a reason they haven’t lost a game all year and are ranked (AP No. 3) in Class 3A.

“I thought we did a lot of good things that we can build off of going forward.”

Both teams finish league and regular-season play Friday with Kaneland at L-P, while Ottawa hosts Rochelle.