By Cort Reynolds
Photos by Stephanie Frazier
BLUFFTON - Undefeated Columbus Grove raced to a big early lead and eliminated Ada 59-35 in the Div. IV boys sectional basketball finals at Bluffton University Friday night.
The previous weekend, Ada gave Grove all it could handle in the regular season finale before CG took over with a 20-7 closing run to win 56-46.
In the rematch seven days later, Grove jumped ahead 19-6 after one quarter and was never seriously threatened.
CG led 9-2 midway through the opening stanza as junior standout Blake Reynolds hit a trey and scored seven points. Junior point guard Brandon Hull netted the first Ada basket.
Consecutive buckets by Tayt Birnesser and Gabe Clement each were sandwiched around a Phillip Coulson field goal as Grove continued to build a 19-4 cushion.
Cayden Murphy tallied a field goal late in the first period to bring Ada within 19-6.
Hull knocked down a triple to open the second stanza and inch within 19-9. But CG responded with an 8-0 spurt to stretch the lead to 18.
Coulson knocked down a trifecta, and junior guard Zac Swaney splashed a 12-footer to cut the deficit to 27-14. Birnesser drained a triple with 1:01 to go in the half.
Grove's Alex Schneider added a field goal 30 seconds later to give CG a 32-14 margin at intermission.
The hard-driving Hull tallied all seven Ada points in the third stanza. But Grove extended its lead to 46-21 by doubling up the purple and gold 14-7 in the quarter.
CG's Evan Hopkins started the final period by nailing a triple. Swaney answered with a trey of his own to make it 49-24. Birnesser drained a trifecta before Ada senior Jake Rayl canned an inside hoop.
Hull collected another basket, and Hopkins sank a southpaw drive. A putback by Murphy cut it to 54-31 with 4:25 remaining.
Reynolds and Hull each split a pair of foul shots, followed by an Owen Macke runner. Coulson ended his Ada hoop career and the scoring by drilling a three-pointer that reduced the final margin to 24.
Unbeaten and top-ranked Grove improved to 23-0 with the win. CG plays Crestview in the district semifinals at Elida next Tuesday. The Knights beat Delphos St. John's 40-37 in the first game of the sectional final doubleheader Friday at Bluffton.
Ada finished its season 10-14, their highest win total in four seasons. The Bulldogs achieved their pre-season goal of double-digit wins under fourth-year head coach Dre White.
Hull led all scorers with 15 points. Coulson tallied nine markers.
Reynolds led balanced Grove with 14 points, and Birnesser netted 13. Clement contributed 10 markers while Hopkins added nine.
Ada sank 13 of 44 shots from the field (30 percent). They knocked down eight of 30 from two-point range (27 percent), and hit on five of 14 from three-point range (36 percent).
Hot-shooting CG canned 25 of 45 field goal tries (56 percent). They made 20 of 30 two-pointers (67 percent), and canned five of 15 from beyond the arc (33 percent).
Team rebound totals were even at 25-25, with Hull topping his team with seven caroms. Ada committed 11 turnovers to nine by CG.
Rayl and fellow post Ty Miller also played their final games for the Bulldogs.
Ada 35 (10-14)
Swaney 2-0-5, C. Murphy 2-0-4, Hull 5-3-15, Coulsn 3-1-9, Rayl 1-0-2, Cook 0, Miller 0, Ennis 0.
Totals: 13-44/4-9/35. 3-pointers (5-14): Hull 2, Coulson 2, Swaney 1.
Col. Grove 59 (23-0)
Reynolds 5-3-14, Birnesser 5-1-13, Hopkins 4-0-9, Clement 5-0-10, Sautter 1-0-3, Macke 1-0-2, Halker 2-0-4, Schneider 2-0-4.
Totals: 25-45/4-6/59. 3-pointers (5-15): Birnesser 2, Reynolds 1, Hopkins 1, Sautter 1.
1 2 3 4 F
Ada 6 8 7 14 35
CG 19 13 14 13 59
The Ada boys basketball team beat Fort Jennings 62-55 Wednesday night in Div. IV sectional semifinal action at Bluffton University.
Ada led 32-25 at halftime and held onto that seven-point lead after intermission to post the win.
Senior Phillip Coulson tallied 19 points for Ada.
Ada beat FJ by the almost identical score of 61-55 back on November 30.
The Bulldogs improved to 10-13 with the victory, while FJ finished its season 3-20 with the defeat.
