The last time Ottawa’s boys basketball team played Interstate 8 Conference rival Morris, the Pirates’ 6-foot-7 Owen Sanders played just 5:51 due to foul trouble throughout the game.

On Tuesday night, Sanders was able to keep himself out of foul trouble and cause Morris a lot of offensive trouble. In part due to Sanders’ constant presence inside, the Pirates came away with a 44-31 win despite scoring only three points in the third quarter. That’s because they held Morris to just two points in the same time frame.

The Pirates (12-9, 2-4) trailed 11-9 at the end of the first quarter, but rallied in the second to take a 22-17 lead into halftime. Both teams played hard-nosed, tough defense in the third quarter, and neither could score until Ottawa’s Hezekiah Joachim made a 3-pointer with 1:24 to play in the quarter. Morris (7-16, 0-6) finally reached the scoring column for the quarter with 40 seconds left on a basket by Cade Laudeman (4 points) and Ottawa took a 25-19 lead into the fourth.

Lucas Farabaugh hit a 3-pointer early in the fourth to put Ottawa ahead 28-19. Morris answered with a basket by RJ Kennedy (team-high 7 points, 4 rebounds) to pull to within 28-21. Sanders then converted an old-fashioned three-point play after being fouled on a putback for a 31-21 Ottawa lead.

The Pirates put the game away on their next possession. After a Morris turnover, Ottawa’s Rory Moore was fouled while shooting, and a technical foul was called on Morris as well. Moore made both free throws for the foul while shooting, then stayed at the line and made both technical free throws. On the ensuing possession, Sanders was fouled and made both free throws for a six-point Pirate possession and a 37-21 lead with 5:05 to play.

Ottawa, which did not attempt a free throw in the first three quarters, was 12 for 12 from the foul line in the fourth quarter to keep Morris at bay.

“I missed most of the game against them last time,” Sanders said. “I wanted to come out here tonight and give it my all the whole game. We do a lot of work on free throws in practice. Coach [Mark] Cooper will have us shoot free throws after we go really hard in an offensive or defensive drill. That way, our legs are tired like they will be in a game and we are used to it.

“We also work a lot on defense in practice. We want to create offense with our defense. We also get after it when it comes to rebounding. Everyone crashes the boards, and I am able to get a few more of them because I am taller. It’s big for us to limit the other team to one shot.”

Morris got a 3-pointer each from Landon Norris and Austin DeLaHera to start the game and take a 6-2 lead. Later in the first, Kennedy hit a 3, but Morris did not make another shot beyond the arc until Adam Guilinger made one in the final minute. Kennedy’s 3-pointer put Morris ahead 11-6, but Ottawa’s Jack Carroll made a 3-pointer of his own at the end of the quarter to make it 11-9.

Ottawa took a 17-15 lead on a basket by Moore midway through the second quarter, but Morris tied it on a basket by Laudeman. The Pirates got a 3-pointer from Drew Parks (6 points), his second of the period, and then a basket by Sanders to take a 22-17 lead into halftime.

“Both teams missed a lot of shots in that third quarter,” Cooper said. “I thought one of the biggest shots of the game was Lucas Farabaugh’s 3-pointer to start the fourth quarter to get us up nine. Then, we were able to put it away on that technical. You have to be able to make your free throws to close out games, and we did a great job of that.

“We have played Morris and [coach] Joe [Blumberg] a lot of times over the years, and this was the same type of game as most of them. It’s going to be low-scoring because the teams know each other so well. There are no surprises and we were fortunate to be able to make more plays.”

The game did not see anyone miss a free throw, as the Pirates were 12 for 12 - 6 of 6 each by Sanders and Moore - while Morris went 3 for 3 when Caden Medler was fouled while shooting a 3-pointer.

“We keep getting outscored at the line,” Blumberg said. “It’s not officiating. We aren’t taking the ball to the basket. Sanders made it very difficult for us tonight with his length and quickness inside. That, and our shot selection kept us from attacking the paint. I thought our forwards did a good job against Sanders defensively.

“We went 1 for 10 from the field in the third quarter and we were still in the game. That says a lot about the defense our guys played.”