Ottawa ? Ottawa High’s Ross Thompson had a lot of time to think Tuesday night. The thing is, he didn’t want to sit and ponder the meaning of life or next week’s history test. The 6-foot-7 junior wanted to play.

But because Thompson was whistled for three fouls in the first quarter of the Cyclones’ first-round 4A sub-state game against Osawatomie, he got a chance to rest his legs next to OHS coach David Grover on the bench.

“I let him have it at halftime,” said Grove, who regards Thompson as an all-state caliber type player. “There’s no way we can get through this sub-state with him on the bench. There are too many good teams.”

Fortunately for the second-seeded Cyclones (16-5), they won’t face one of the better teams in their bracket until Friday. The seventh-seeded Trojans (8-12) were no match for Ottawa as the Cyclones downed Osawatomie with ease, 91-62.

Ottawa, which averages 76 points a game, has scored more than 80 points six times this season. The Cyclones broke 100 points at the Goodland tournament in early December.

Thompson, who called his third foul “stupid,” even poured in 22 points, despite missing the entire second quarter and part of the fourth. Thompson scored 10 of his team’s first 12 points in the second half.

Both teams ran up and down the court early, often attempting uncontested layups but missing because the players were running so fast.

“Both teams ran up and down the court early and those layups we gave up kind of worried me,” Grover said. “But I thought because of the tempo of the game it was OK. We hit some three-pointers and that really opened things up for us inside.”

Ottawa led by five 25-20 after the first quarter. The Cyclones padded their lead with a 16-4 run in the first three minutes of the second quarter. Senior Isaac Templeton (6-2) and sophomore Clint Bones (6-4) picked up Thompson’s slack and dominated the Trojans inside.

“I thought that if both teams had to go to their bench we would be better off than them,” Grover said. “Isaac really did some good things for us in there and the second time Clint went in he seemed real comfortable.”

Ottawa will play the winner of the Louisburg-Burlington game Friday at Anderson County.

Ottawa 91, Osawatomie 62

Osawatomie (8-12)

Blane Kerr 4-9 0-0 8, Chuck Troutman 2-4 2-2 6, Clint Freeman 3-9 3-4 9, Ryan Dalton 3-5 0-0 6, Mikah Antwine 7-9 1-3 15, Chris Cook 7-7 0-0 14, Ryan McQuay 1-2 0-0 2, Ryan Alexander 0-2 2-2 2, Heath Kice 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 27-48 8-11 62.

Ottawa (16-5)

Isaac Templeton 5-7 5-6 15, Chris Hermreck 3-10 4-6 11, Cale Drumright 3-13 1-4 9, Adam Spratt 1-1 0-0 2, Ross Thompson 10-13 2-2 22, Eric Hull 3-8 0-0 8, Clint Bones 5-9 4-6 14, Michael Cation 2-3 0-1 4, Lee Baldwin 2-4 0-0 6, Andrew Maxwell 0-1 0-0 0, Kyle Fetters 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 34-70 16-25 91.

Osawatomie 20 15 14 13 62

Ottawa 25 27 20 1991

Three-point goals Osawatomie 0-2 (Freeman 0-2), Ottawa 7-19 (Hermreck 1-4, Drumright 2-5, Hull 2-6, Maxwell 2-3 Fetters 0-1). Fouls Osawatomie 17, Ottawa 14. Turnovers Osawatomie 15, Ottawa 10.