By Cort Reynolds
ADA - The host Ada boys basketball team played its first game in three weeks vs. Delphos Jefferson and came up short 46-34 in Northwest Conference action Friday night.
The Bulldogs trailed just 16-15 early in the second period after a fake handoff and baseline-driving layup from senior Tristan Conley.
But Jefferson then reeled off nine unanswered points and ended the half on an 11-1 run to take control of the contest and lead 27-16 by intermission.
DJ led by as many as 18 in the second half, and Ada never got closer than 10 the rest of the way.
The purple and gold dropped to 0-8 and 0-2 in the NWC with the non-league defeat. Meanwhile, the Wildcats improved to 3-5 (2-0 NWC) after the win.
"Take nothing away from Delphos, but the layoff was a factor in our play," said Ada head coach Jon Cook. "The physicality of the game bothered us.
"Delphos did a better job of attacking our matchup zone than anyone else has this year," he continued. "We got enough good shots, but we didn't convert them. We were not very good defensively, but our offense didn't help us either."
Early on, Trent Teman hit a layup and Colin Bailey nailed a right corner trifecta to give DJ a 5-0 lead. Ada's Spencer Wall drove through the defense for a scoop layin to get the Bulldogs on the board three minutes into the fray.
Ada junior Cayden Murphy then tallied five sraight points to tie it 7-7. Athletic Ian Wannemacher canned consecutive baskets, yet Bulldog senior Micah Cook banked in a right side 14-footer to knot it again, 9-9.
A putback by Teman and a fast break layin by Levi Rode, sandwiched around a Cook backdoor layup from Trent Ennis, gave DJ a 14-11 advantage after the opening stanza.
Ennis converted a back cut layin from Conley to get Ada within 14-13 to start the second period. Teman hit a basket, followed by the Conley drive that made it 16-15 with 6:44 left in the first half.
But then the Wildcats seized control. Wannemacher sank a follow shot to spark the 9-0 spurt. Andrew Miller drained a trey and another stickback was followed by two Bailey foul shots.
Cook sank a foul shot with 24 seconds left to end a 6:20 Ada point-less drought. But Wannemacher banked a right side runner at the buzzer to build the margin to 27-16 at halftime.
Bailey opened half two with a left wing trifecta. Another trey from Caden Carter advanced the lead to 34-16 with 3:17 left in the third period.
Cook knocked down an 11-foot right baseline jumper for the first
Ada basket in just under 12 minutes.
But Bailey splashed a triple from out top to rebuild the lead to 37-19 at the 2:20 mark. Wall canned a backdoor layup off an Ennis dish 26 seconds later.
Conley scored inside and Murphy converted two shoul shots to slice the deficit to 37-25 heading to the fourth quarter.
Ada extended its run to 8-0 after Murphy sank a layup to open the final stanza. Wannemacher answered by following in his own miss with 6:45 remaining.
Bailey rattled in a dagger triple 72 seconds later from the right wing for a 15-point lead. Ada senior guard Jacob Poling drained a trey on the ensuing possession to make it 42-30.
A Wildcat layin was followed by two Conley free throws. Rode sank a left-handed putback at the 2:01 mark to finish the DJ scoring.
Ennis converted a layup after a nice head fake to cut the final margin to 12.
Murphy led Ada with nine points, while Cook tallied eight. Conley added six.
Bailey drilled four triples en route to a game-high 14 points. Wannemacher added 13 markers. Teman scored seven points in the first half before a mouth injury forced him out.
"I thought the most disappointing thing tonight was we did not play defense with fight or an edge like we have all season," Cook said. "We didn't rebound well enough, but we are not big or strong."
The Bulldogs canned 13 field goals. They sank one shot from three-point land, and made 12 baskets from inside the arc.
Ada converted seven of 14 attempts from the charity stripe (50 percent).
The Wildcats connected on 12 two-point baskets and six launches from three-point territory. They converted four of eight free throws (50 percent) from the charity stripe.
Ada also lost the junior varsity contest 49-33 to fall to 3-4. Carter Conley led the Bulldogs with 11 points, while Jacob Sutherly added eight.
Caden Carder tallied 14 and Lucas Grothaus netted nine to lead the Wildcat reserves.
Ada 34 (0-8, 0-2 NWC)
C. Murphy 3 3-4 9, Cook 3 2-3 8, Wall 2 0-0 4, Ennis 2 0-1 4, T. Conley 2 2-4 6, Poling 1 0-2 3, E. Murphy 0, Preston 0, C. Conley 0, Thompson 0.
Totals: 12-1/7-14/34. 3-pointer: Poling 1.
DJ 46 (3-5, 2-0 NWC)
Bailey 4 2-2 14, Teman 3 1-2 7, Wannemacher 6 1-4 13, Miller 1 0-0 3, Carder 2 0-0 5, Wiltsie 0, Rode 2 0-0 4, Estle 0.
Totals: 12-6/4-8/46. 3-pointers: Bailey 4, Carder 1, Miller 1.
1 2 3 4 F
Ada 11 5 9 9 34
DJ 16 11 10 9 46
JV: DJ 49, Ada 33.
