Ottawa has big first half, holds off L-P rally for Interstate Eight win

LA SALLE — When La Salle-Peru senior Johnny Riva left with an injury with three minutes left in the first quarter, Ottawa led by three points.

With the Cavaliers’ leading scorer on the bench, the Pirates capitalized, pushing their lead to eight by the end of the first quarter and to 17 before Riva returned with 2:39 left in the first half.

Ottawa scored a flurry of points to end the first half to take a 23-point lead then held off a furious L-P rally in the second quarter to win 68-54 in an Interstate Eight Conference game.

“It was great,” Ottawa’s Braiden Miller said. “We came out hot. We capitalized all game. I thought the energy was a lot better than I expected it to be on the bus ride over.

“I just think we were in unison. The flow was there. The mindset was there. We were just going hard.”

The Pirates went on a 6-1 run after Riva went out with back-to-back buckets off turnovers — with Levi Sheehan scoring on an assist from Anthony Miller before Sheehan returned the favor — and a second-chance basket by Braiden Miller.

Anthony Miller sank a 3-pointer with 1.3 seconds left to give the Pirates an 18-10 lead after one.

“He’s the heart and soul of our team,” Cherveny said about Riva. “He provides so much energy and so many good things as far as handling the ball, scoring and defending. When your best player goes down, it’s devastating. It really takes the wind out of your sails. But credit to Ottawa, they pounced on it and took advantage of it.”

The Pirates continued to push their lead out in the second quarter, going on a 20-3 run to build a 33-15 lead.

Braiden Miller scored six points during the spurt, while Javarius Whitfield provided a spark off the bench with a layup, a steal and another layup.

“We’ve been playing better offensively lately,” Ottawa coach Mark Cooper said. “I thought we did a really good job of moving the ball and screening. Braiden has been playing at a much higher level the last month.”

Braiden Miller scored just before the horn to send the Pirates to the locker room up 40-17.

“We felt good because when you in a rivalry game, the home team is always capable of making a run,” Cooper said. “We know L-P on senior night had a run in them, but when you have as big of a margin as we did, it allows you to withstand the big run and still have a little bit of a margin to work with.”

L-P’s offense came alive in the third quarter as the Cavs scored 19 points in the period with Riva leading the way with 10, but the Pirates still held an 18-point advantage (54-36) entering the fourth.

The Cavs started the final eight minutes strong with a drive by Sean Whitfield for a bucket and a 3-pointer by Riva.

After Javarius Whitfield scored for Ottawa, Sean Whitfield responded with a drive for L-P to spark an 11-2 run.

The Cavs extended their pressure, leading to three consecutive Pirate turnovers that led to three L-P buckets with a layup by Riva brining the Cavs’ deficit to single digits at 60-52 with 3:19 left, leading Cooper to call a timeout.

“The second half was one of our best with hustle and effort that we’ve had all year,” Cherveny said. “The kids gave everything they had. They knew they dug themselves a hole early and had a big uphill battle. But they showed a lot of heart and as a coach and as a fan, I think they really represented the community well.”

After L-P’s run, the Pirates limited the Cavs to just a pair of Riva free throws the final 3:19, while Payton Knoll scored a bucket and Ottawa made 5-of-10 free throws to finish it off.

“It was a game we had to have conference wise,” Cooper said. “Credit to our guys to come on the road and get a rivalry win.”

To start the game, injured L-P senior Michael Jereb, who has been out since mid-December, started and the Pirates allowed him to score a layup before he went to the bench.

“He’s one of our captains and leaders,” Cherveny said. “Credit to coach Cooper. We worked together on that. It was really nice. We wanted to make sure it was special. Michael’s ultra competitive. He’s been really disappointed that happened. I hope that he finds it as special as his teammates and the fans.”

Braiden Miller led the Pirates (15-9, 9-3 I8) with a double-double of 16 points and 10 rebounds, while Luke Cushing scored 14 points and Sheehan added 12.

Riva paced the Cavs (13-14, 5-7 I8) with 21 points, including 17 points in the second half, while Sean Whitfield finished with 14 points.