Anthony Cooper, Pirates stay hot, romp over Plano

OTTAWA — In the last two nights, the Ottawa Pirates have upped their record this season by two wins, both very different in how they were achieved but with one huge common denominator: Anthony Cooper.

Cooper established a new career-high in scoring, pumping in a whopping 32 points – 12 of those in the opening quarter and two on a dunk in the second period that sparked a game-deciding 17-4 outburst — to lead OHS to a 72-57 laugher over Plano here at Kingman Gym on Saturday night.

The romp came just 24 hours after the Pirates won a 53-51 nailbiter at Sycamore, when the senior guard matched his previous career-best with 30 points, the final two coming on a game-winning jumper with just two seconds remaining.

“It was a hard-fought game last night and you never know what bounce-back games are going to be like … Last night we had an 18-19 point lead, then all of a sudden it got really close. Tonight it was nice to see when we built up that cushion, we were able to expand it and get a little separation.”

—  Ottawa coach Mark Cooper

The wins lift Ottawa’s mark to 4-0 overall, 3-0 in the Interstate Eight Conference with another league showdown at rival La Salle-Peru looming Wednesday at 7 p.m.

“Anthony was really good tonight,” Ottawa coach Mark Cooper said of his star guard, who added six rebounds and five steals to that effort. “That was impressive dunk and he played well all night, and I was really happy with how we played as a team. We played the right way, from inside out. We weren’t taking perimeter pass 3s or breaking their press and taking 3s. We got the ball in the paint through post touches, high-low, dribble drives and we were able to do a lot of good things because of that.

“It was a hard-fought game last night and you never know what bounce-back games are going to be like … Last night we had an 18-19 point lead, then all of a sudden it got really close. Tonight it was nice to see when we built up that cushion, we were able to expand it and get a little separation.”

It was Anthony Cooper’s night right from the start as he netted OHS’ first 10 points, among them a hoop-and-harm three-point play to put them ahead for good at 6-4. Tyler Arroyo came off the bench to fire in a pair of 3s in the period that ended with the home team on top by eight.

After a putback by Plano’s Zion Curry started the second quarter, Cooper dribbled past the scorer’s table and the Reapers’ Josh Padilla driving down the right side of the floor. The 6-2 guard swooped in, rose over the lone Plano defender still left, Brandon Edmon, and put down a one-handed slam that would have brought the crowd to its feet, had there been one.

That upped the Pirate edge to 23-14 with 5 minutes, 52 seconds showing, but also ignited the decisive rally that included five points from Zach Vogel and four points from Anthony Miller. When it ended, the last two on a pair of free throws by Evan Evola, OHS had a 37-18 advantage.

Consecutive treys by Luke Cushing and five points from Levi Sholders widened the gap before the first three of Cooper’s 11 third-quarter points made it 54-32. The hosts led 64-38 heading to the fourth before clearing the bench, where Plano’s Tristan Canfield scored five of his team-best 14 points.

“I thought we had pretty good balance tonight,” Coach Cooper said. “I thought up and down our roster tonight, we had a lot of good energy and did a lot of good things … Like every team, we’re learning on the run with minimal practice time. This group has been all-in in terms of doing the things we’ve talked about, and because of that we’re getting better ... This was a good night for us.”