Ottawa powers past Sycamore on slow-paced senior night

OTTAWA – Senior night 2021 may not have been the show the Ottawa Pirates had hoped it would be, from the mostly empty stands at Kingman Gym to the low-scoring, at times plodding game that played out against the visiting Sycamore Spartans.

A senior night victory, however, is a senior night victory, and Ottawa remained unbeaten on its home floor, winning an Interstate 8 Conference contest the Pirates led almost from start to finish, 44-29, to complete the season sweep of Sycamore.

“The game was bogged down most of the night for both teams,” Ottawa coach Mark Cooper said. “Neither team shot the ball great, which contributed to a choppy game in general.

“But like we talked to the guys about the other day, if you defend and rebound, you’re going to give yourself a chance. I thought we were in the right spots most of the time defensively, and that was able to carry us through this evening.”

The Spartans (4-6, 3-5 in the I-8) scored first on a Xavier Gagnepain putback of his own miss and were up, 4-2, but never led again. The visitors played well enough on the defensive end – led by Hunter Alexander or Tyler York face-guarding OHS leading scorer Anthony Cooper – to give themselves multiple opportunities to cut into an Ottawa lead that reached as many as a dozen points late in the first half.

“We had some looks offensively to start the third quarter there especially. They just didn’t fall. Unfortunately that happens, and that’s when you rely on your defense to keep you in the ballgame.”

—  Sycamore boys basketball coach Andrew Stacey

On the offensive end, however, they simply couldn’t take advantage. Sycamore shot 22.2% (10 of 45) from the field, including 13.3% (2 of 15) from 3-point distance.

“Defensively I thought we did a really good job,” Sycamore coach Andrew Stacey said. “Our goal tonight was to keep Cooper under 15 [points], and I think he had 16 with a couple there at the end. We made him have to work for everything, so that’s a credit to our guys.

“But offensively, we just struggled. [Ottawa is] a good defensive team, and sometimes you have nights like that where you don’t shoot particularly well on the road.”

In all fairness, the Pirates (10-1 overall, 8-1 in the I-8) didn’t shoot incredibly well either, making 41.5% (17 of 41) of their shots including 27.8% (5 of 18) from the 3-point arc. It was good enough to keep the Spartans at bay. The closest Sycamore got in the second half was seven points, at 26-19 and 28-21, after Bailey Wiegmann baskets.

“We had some looks offensively to start the third quarter there especially,” Stacey said. “They just didn’t fall. Unfortunately that happens, and that’s when you rely on your defense to keep you in the ballgame.”

Gagnepain with eight points, eight rebounds and two blocked shots led Sycamore, with Wiegmann adding six points – all six of the points the Spartans managed in the third quarter – and Samuel Etienne scoring five.

“It’s a really good group of kids, very nice kids. I’m happy they got an opportunity to have a season, albeit a shortened one.”

—  Ottawa boys basketball coach Mark Cooper

All eight Ottawa seniors saw a good deal of floor time, with Cooper’s game-high 16 points plus his seven rebounds and three assists leading the attack. Anthony Bianchi (one blocked shot), Evan Evola (two points, two rebounds, three assists, two steals), Zach Vogel (six points, two rebounds, one steal, two blocked shots), Tyler Arroyo (six points, one rebound), Kenrik Gage (one steal), Jamarion Jones (two points, one rebound, two assists) and Levi Sholders (five points, four rebounds, two assists, two steals) also contributed to their own senior night win.

“It’s a really good group of kids, very nice kids,” Mark Cooper said. “I’m happy they got an opportunity to have a season, albeit a shortened one. I’m just disappointed for them that they don’t get a senior night with our student body and crowd and get the send-off they so much deserve.

“But everyone was able to get good minutes on the floor and get a win, so it was a good night for us.”

The Spartans return home Wednesday to host LaSalle-Peru.

The Pirates hit the road Wednesday to visit Plano.