OTTAWA — The last three matchups between Rochelle and Ottawa have been decided by just a handful of points, so it was only fitting that Friday night’s conference matchup between the Pirates and the Hubs varsity basketball team came down to the final seconds once again.

Trailing by three points with 2.8 seconds remaining, the Hubs inbounded the basketball from nearly full-court range with one last chance to score. But Rochelle junior Johnny Beck’s contested jumper from well beyond the 3-point line was too strong, and Ottawa held on to beat the Hubs by a final score of 50-47. Beck led Rochelle (11-7) with 16 points, while senior Angel Aguirre had 13 points.

“Ottawa’s really talented and I think they run some of the best offense in our league,” head coach Tim Thompson said. “They do a great job of getting good looks and they always have talented players. We had won our last three against them in tight games and this one was tight again. We enjoy coming to play here and they enjoy playing in our gym.”

Rochelle and Ottawa remained tied 15-15 after the first quarter, and both teams were even at halftime by a score of 26-26. While Myles Tucker led the Pirates on offense with 14 points in the game, the Hubs managed to hold Ottawa standout Wyatt Hill scoreless over the first two quarters. Hill scored 17 points in Rochelle’s first matchup against the Pirates this season.

“I think we stuck to our defensive principles and the kids did a great job of jumping their hand-offs and being in proper guarding positions,” Thompson said. “Tucker is going to score because he can do it outside or inside, but we made Hill take contested shots and he wasn’t able to make any of them tonight.”

Ottawa took the lead in the third quarter, with the Pirates running offense to get slips underneath the Rochelle basket for easy points. Hill scored all eight of his points in the third quarter, and the Ottawa defense held Rochelle to just four points in the quarter. The Pirates led 38-30 at the end of the quarter.

“We just couldn’t make anything,” Thompson said. “It seems like the kids are going through something right now. They’re not shooting the ball well, they’re rushing their shots and they may be a little fatigued here and there. We’re just not shooting the ball well, and we missed a lot of shots in the third quarter.’

The Pirates struggled to put Rochelle away, however. Ottawa missed its final six free-throw attempts in the game, allowing the Hubs to work their way back to a much smaller deficit with a chance at sending the conference battle to overtime. But Rochelle will need to bounce back against Yorkville on Tuesday, and the team will need more production on offense after Beck and Aguirre combined for 62 percent of their group’s points on Friday.

“Angel and Johnny will usually be our leading scorers but we need some of our other guys to find ways to score,” Thompson said.