By Cort Reynolds
NEW BREMEN - Visiting Ada built a big deficit after the first period, yet battled back before losing 64-46 to New Bremen in Div. IV sectional first round boys basketball action Wednesday night.
The loss ended the Bulldog season with a 3-19 record.
Ada scored first on a three-point goal by senior guard Jacob Poling, but NB then ran off 20 consecutive points to grab a commanding 20-3 lead after the first period of play.
Eight turnovers plagued the Bulldogs in the opening stanza. Ada rallied and cut the lead to nine a few times, but never got closer than that margin the rest of the game.
The Bulldogs won the fourth period 13-10 yet lost the second half by seven after a costly 24-point Cardinal third quarter barrage.
Victorious NB advanced to host the sectional finals vs. league foe Marion Local Feb. 26 with a 15-8 mark. The balanced Cardinal attack placed four players in double figures.
"The first quarter was bad and the third wasn't good; we had a really bad spell in the third quarter that undid things after we got back in it the second period," said Ada head coach Jon Cook.
"When we got it back to 11 at half I thought we could stay in it," he continued. "We just gave up a big run in the third period - and we couldn't live with giving up 24 points.
"They had two quarters in the 20's when we had talked about holding them to the 20's in the halves," Cook added. "Our start was really troublesome, but we had a lot of guys playing who hadn't had any high school tournament action. We did things that indicated to me that we were really tight."
After the first period, Ada was only outscored 44-43.
"We were down 8-3 after doing almost nothing right, but then they scored the last 12 points of the first quarter in about two or three minutes," Cook recalled. "I thought our kids showed a lot in the second quarer. Jake Poling attacked the basket for us and triggered the second quarter, and Micah got a couple three's."
Poling sank a shot to open the second stanza, followed by a breakway layup from senior Trent Ennis to cut the deficit to 20-7. Mitchell Hays canned a hoop for NB, and teammate Evan Eyink added a basket.
Ada junior sophomore Ethan Murphy drilled a shot with just under six minutes left in the half. Bulldog senior Micah Cook then splashed a trifecta to pull the purple and gold within 24-10.
Cardinal Eyink maneuvered inside for a basket, but Poling stole a pass and scored. The speedy Poling then converted a transition basket to inch within 10 points.
Dave Homan canned a driving shot for NB, yet Cook drained a triple to make it 28-19. Cardinal Trevor Bergman knocked down a pull-up 15-footer just before the halftime horn to give the hosts an 11-point bulge at intermission.
Ada won the second quarter, 16-10. NB sank 13 of 24 shots inside the arc and out-rebounded the Bulldogs 15-9 in the first half. Ada did manage to sink three of six from three-point land. The Bulldogs committed 10 turnovers to four errors by NB in the first 16 minutes.
Ennis opened the second half with a basket for Ada. Reese Busse scored and after a Cardinal midcourt steal, Dave Homan tipped in a missed NB dunk for a 34-21 lead. Nick Alig finished a fast break layin, followed bya southpaw finish by Busse.
Junior Cayden Murphy scored inside for Ada, but Alig splashed a triple. Pressing NB then stole the ball, and Hays converted a layup for a 43-24 bulge with 4:20 left in the third period.
Cayden Murphy completed a traditional three-point play in the lane. Trevor Bergman grabbed an offensive rebound and scored inside. Poling split a pair at the charity stripe.
David Homan splashed a trifecta, and Busse netted a layup off a steal. Homan sank two foul shots for a 24-point cushion. Dan Homan was called for a technical hanging on the rim during a tip try.
Cook converted the two technical shots, then nailed a triple to cut the deficit to 52-33. Bergman canned a pair at the line to provide a 21-point advantage after three periods.
Dan Homan scored easily off a steal, followed by a basket from Ada sophomore Carter Conley. Cayden Murphy posted up and scored inside. Hays split two free tosses followed by a triple from Tristan Conley.
Busse drained a pair at the foul line, and Cook responded by sinking a left-handed reverse layin. Cayden Murphy canned two free tosses, and Hays tallied off a nice backdoor cut.
Cayden Murphy scored in transition, followed by a trey from Alig to finish Ada's season.
"We could have lost by 40 after an inexperienced team like ours was down 17 after the first period," said Cook. "But we didn't lay down, we fought back."
Cook paced Ada with 14 points, while Poling tallied nine of his 10 points before intermission. All 11 of Cayden Murphy's points came in the second half.
Dave Homan and Busse led balanced NB with a dozen points apiece. Bergman tallied 11 markers while Alig added 10.
Ada connected on 17 total field goals in 39 attempts (44 percent). They sank 12 of 29 two-point basket tries (41 percent), and canned five of 10 shots from beyond the arc (50 percent).
The Bulldogs converted seven of 10 attempts from the charity stripe (70 percent).
NB knocked down 26 total baskets, nine more than Ada. The Cardinals sank 22 of 41 two-point field goals (54 percent), and canned four of 15 shots from three-point land (27 percent).
Overall, the Cards knocked down 26 of 56 shots from the floor (46 percent).
NB converted eight of 13 free throw tries (62 percent).
The bigger Cardinals out-rebounded Ada, 32-15. The Bulldogs committed 16 turnovers, compared to eight miscues by NB.
Ada finished 1-10 on the road this season with the defeat. Seniors Cook, Ennis, Tristan Conley, Poling and Danny Thompson played their final game for the Bulldogs.
"We had to play with confidence, but we didn't do it early and it got away from us in the third," Cook noted. "New Bremen is a good team, with 14-15 wins in the MAC. They are really athletic at every spot, and were very active defensively.
"They took away a lot of the actions we rely on. But we didn't lay down, we fought back and made some plays.
"It is what it is," Cook continued. "The end in all tournament sports is abrupt, and that is hard to deal with. All in all, it was a challenging position to be in this year.
"It is hard to paint three wins as a positive, but there were a great deal of positives all season," he summed up. "We had a chance to win a lot of games. Going into the season I didn't want to judge our season on win totals, and I thought our kids grew a lot as players and people."
Ada 46 (3-19)
Thompson 0, Wall 0, Ennis 2 0-0 4, Cook 4 3-4 14, C. Murphy 4 3-3 11, T. Conley 1 0-0 3, Poling 4 1-2 10, E. Murphy 1 0-1 2, C. Conley 1 0-0 2, Preston 0, Phipps 0.
Totals: 17-39/7-10/46. 3-pointers (5-10): Cook 3, Poling 1, T. Conley 1.
NB 64 (15-8)
Hays 3 1-2 7, Bergman 4 3-4 11, Tenkman 0, Alig 4 0-0 10, Busse 5 2-3 12, Wells 0, Roetgerman 0, Dave Homan 4 2-2 12, Muether 0, Bambauer 0, Sailer 0, Thieman 0, Rindler 0, Eyink 2 0-2 4, Dan Homan 4 0-0 8.
Totals: 26-56/8-13/64. 3-pointers (4-15): Alig 2, Dave Homan 2.
1 2 3 4 F
Ada 3 16 14 13 46
NB 20 10 24 10 64
Fourth seed New Bremen advances to host the sectional finals Friday against fifth-seeded league rival Marion Local (14-9). The sectional winners advance to the Wapakoneta district.
ML lost at MAC foe New Bremen 46-42 on Feb. 5. The Flyers defeated Waynesfield 65-31 in their first round game Wednesday night.
