The Ottawa boys basketball team knew they would be in for a fight Friday night when they took on Interstate Eight Conference rival Morris.

The Pirates answered the bell early, scoring seven of the game’s first eight points and were able come away with a 41-29 win.

Jack Carroll, who led all scorers with 15 points, led the charge early. Carroll opened the scoring with a 3-pointer, then delivered a fastbreak basket off a steal by teammate Rory Moore, to give Ottawa (4-2, 1-1) a 5-0 lead. Morris got on the board on a free throw by Luis Loza before Ottawa’s George Shumway (5 points, 7 rebounds) scored on a putback bucket to make it 7-1. Unfortunately for the Pirates, 6-7 Owen Sanders picked up two quick fouls and went to the bench with 5:40 to play in the first quarter.

Morris (1-4, 0-2) cut the lead to 7-4 on a 3-pointer by Landon Norris (team-high 8 points) before Ottawa embarked on an 8-0 run, which consisted of 3-pointers by Moore and Dom Parks sandwiched around a pair of free throws by Carroll, to move out to a 15-4 lead. Morris got a 3-pointer by Norris and a basket by Cade Laudeman around a bucket by Blake Schiltz, and Ottawa took a 17-9 lead into the second quarter.

“We knew that Morris was going to be very physical,” Carroll said. “We knew we had to match that energy and we came out with it right away. It’s nice to play with a six- or seven-point lead.

“Defense is one of the key things we talk about. We have to come out and be intense every game. It’s also nice that we are pretty balanced on offense. We have a lot of guys who can score, so teams can’t just concentrate on slowing one or two guys down.”

RJ Kennedy opened the second quarter with a 3-pointer for Morris, but the Pirate defense limited them to just one more basket the rest of the half. Ottawa, meanwhile, got a basket by Sanders before he picked up his third foul as Morris’ Brycen Johnson took a charge. It was one of six charges drawn by Morris defenders in the contest.

Hayden MacDonald scored for Morris to make it 19-14, but Ottawa scored the final six points of the half to take a 25-14 lead into halftime. Included in the Ottawa spurt were a 3-pointer by Schiltz, a steal and layup by Hezekiah Joachim and a free throw by Carroll.

“There are no surprises when we play Morris,” Ottawa coach Mark Cooper said. “They are going to play tough defense, try to have long possessions on offense and keep the game low-scoring. If you are behind them, then you have to gamble more on defense, and we were able to avoid that.

“Jack Carroll and George Shumway both brought great energy on a night when Owen was hardly on the floor with foul trouble. I also thought we were pretty sound defensively and communicated well. We were aggressive defensively and made them work full-court.”

Ottawa got a basket from Carroll and then a steal and dunk by Sanders to open the second half and take a 29-14 lead. Sanders, though, picked up his fourth foul with 7:02 to play in the quarter on a charge drawn by Austin De La Hera and went back to the bench. Morris then outscored Ottawa 10-4 the rest of the quarter, getting a pair of buckets by Kennedy (7 points), four free throws by freshman Baylen Lee (6 points) and two free throws by Norris to cut the lead to 33-24 entering the fourth.

Early in the fourth quarter, Norris drew an offensive foul on Sanders, fouling the big man out. Soon after, though, Carroll squelched any idea Morris had toward building momentum with a 3-pointer from the corner and then a pair of free throws with 5:04 to play for a 38-24 lead. Johnson hit a 3-pointer for Morris to pull them to within 38-27, but that was as close as they got.

“I was real happy to see us draw six charges,” Morris coach Joe Blumberg said. “That’s about as unselfish as it gets. Give Ottawa credit. Their pressure took us out of what we wanted to do.

“We left our feet way too often in the first quarter and didn’t execute what we had on the scouting report. Also, there were a lot of fouls early. Not only did Sanders have two quick fouls, but so did our big men.”