By Cort Reynolds
ADA - Spencerville senior Keegan Goecke banked in a short shot with just under three seconds left to give the Bearcats an extremely hard-fought 37-36 victory at upset-minded Ada Friday night.
Ada clung to a small advantage for most of the Northwest Conference boys basketball battle. But the Bearcats rallied to seize a 32-30 lead with 4:04 remaining after Dylan Smith calmly drained two free throws.
Goecke's layup off an in-bounds pass gave the visitors a 34-31 edge with three minutes left. A free throw by Josh Henline moments later provided the Bearcats with their biggest lead at 35-31.
Ada sophomore Spencer Wall banked in a baseline-driving layup at the 2:30 mark to cut the deficit to two. Bulldog senior Micah Cook penetrated the lane and sank a nice reverse layup to tie it with 1:44 to go.
Cook then rebounded a Bearcat miss, was fouled and canned one free throw to put Ada back on top by a point with 1:25 left.
The teams traded turnovers in the frantic final moments. Spencerville then came out of a scrum with a loose ball off a long Bulldog in-bounds pass, and called timeout with 14.6 seconds left to set up a last shot.
The Bearcats worked the ball into Goecke on the low right block. He spun into a double-team, yet managed to muscle in a short shot off glass. With no timeouts left, Ada then threw the ball out of bounds as the clock expired.
The Bulldogs dropped to 2-14 overall and 0-4 in the NWC after the difficult defeat. Spencerville improved to 7-11 and 3-3 in the NWC with the win.
"I am really proud of the guys," noted Ada head coach Jon Cook. "We did all the things we needed to be able to compete.
"They got the ball back with 14 seconds left and just made a play," he continued. "We left 10 points on the floor with missed layups in the fourth quarter. Those missed shots can come back to haunt you, and this time they did."
The shooting by both teams was as cold as the wind chill outside. It was tied 8-8 after one period as Micah Cook and Ethan Murphy each drilled treys for Ada in the opening stanza.
The Bulldogs then inched ahead 18-15 by halftime as both clubs struggled to find their shooting touch from the field in the rugged contest.
Senior Cook sank a right wing trey and sophomore Murphy drained a right side triple to put Ada in front, 14-10.
Cook later swished a 17-footer off the right baseline, and Wall sank a driving layin to give the Bulldogs a three-point advantage at intermission.
Senior Tristan Conley converted a pair of foul shots to give Ada a 20-15 bulge early in the third stanza. Spencerville rallied to tie it 21-21 on a Dylan Cole free toss.
Cole then sank a layup to cap an 8-1 run and give the Bearcats a 23-21 lead. Yet Ada regained the lead by sinking five of six foul shots.
Spencerville sophomore Smith knocked down an 11-foot floater with 30 seconds left in the period. Cook then tossed up a heavily-contested lane shot that rolled around the rim and in to keep the Bulldogs ahead by three after a foul-filled third period.
The Bearcats were whistled for 12 fouls in the stanza.
Goecke split two foul shots, and Smith spun in a nice driving scoop shot to tie it 28-28 at the 6:10 mark of the final quarter. Smith then hit two free throws to put the visitors ahead with 5:52 remaining.
The aggressive Bearcats continued to apply fierce fullcourt pressure. Cook was fouled and tied it with two free tosses. Smith then regained the lead for the Beatcats by converting a pair at the charity stripe.
Conley split one of two shots to pull Ada within 32-31 and start the frenetic final chapter. Goecke, who was held to just three field goals all game, hit the last two baskets for Spencerville to win it.
"To have the lead most of the game, lose it, then get it back is a sign of growth," Cook pointed out. "There were a lot of woulda, coulda, shoulda's in that game. But we put ourselves in position to win.
"We held them under 40 points and played good defense," he continued. "To give that kind of effort while short-handed, I could not be prouder of a team."
Cook led all scorers with 18 points in the low-scoring contest where both teams shot less than 25 percent from the field. Murphy netted eight points, and Wall added seven markers.
Smith topped Spencerville with 11 points. Goecke scored seven points, five of which came in the final stanza.
Ada played its second straight game without injured junior starter Cayden Murphy.
The Bulldogs connected on 10 total field goals. They canned six baskets inside the arc, and sank four shots from three-point territory.
Ada converted 12 of 21 attempts from the charity stripe (57 percent). "Free throw shooting hurt us again, but Spencerville also struggled at the foul line," Cook noted.
The Bearcats sank 13 total baskets. They canned two from three-point territory, and sank 11 two-point field goals.
Spencerville converted on just nine of their 17 free throw tries (53 percent).
The Bulldogs are now 2-7 at home after the difficult loss.
Ada lost the junior varsity contest 51-30 to drop to 6-8. Carter Conley led the Bulldog reserves with a season-high 24 points.
Ada senior guard Jacob Poling was named Homecoming king, and senior swimmer Paige Cole was voted Homecoming queen in ceremonies held between the JV and varsity contests.
Since Ada did not have a fall Homecoming due to the football season being shortened, it was held during hoop season instead.
Ada 36 (2-14, 0-4 NWC)
Thompson 0, Ennis 0, Cook 5 6-8 18, Wall 3 1-3 7, T. Conley 0 3-4 3, Poling 0 0-2 0, E. Murphy 2 2-3 8.
Totals: 6-4/12-21/36. 3-pointers: E. Murphy 2, Cook 2.
Spencerville 37 (7-11, 3-3 NWC)
Henline 2 2-4 6, Bowens 2 0-0 6, D. Smith 3 5-5 11, Goecke 3 1-2 7, Koenig 1 0-2 2, Prichard 0, Cook 2 1-4 5.
Totals: 11-2/9-17/37. 3-pointers: Bowens 2.
1 2 3 4 F
Ada 8 10 10 8 36
Svl 8 7 10 12 37
JV: Spencerville 51, Ada 30.
The Bulldogs play a makeup league game at local rival Allen East (9-8, 2-4 NWC) Tuesday, Feb. 9. AE started out 4-0, then lost its last four contests before knocking off Bluffton 75-68 Friday.
"We are looking forward to Tuesday and getting ourselves recharged physically," said Cook. "We will have to bounce back against a traditional rival in a game that means a lot to our kids.
"We have three NWC games next week," he added.
Key Ada inside player Cayden Murphy hopes to be back for the AE contest if he passes all the concussion tests and protocols by Monday.
Ada then visits tough Lincolnview (12-4, 4-2 NWC) Feb. 12, which just lost 56-40 to arch-rival Crestview Friday.
The Paulding at Ada boys league game set for January 29 was postponed due to covid concerns with the Panther team. The makeup game is set for Saturday, Feb. 13.
A freshman game wil tip off the triple-header at 4 p.m., followed by the JV and varsity bouts.
Paulding is 6-8 overall and 2-3 in the NWC.
Drawing for boys sectional pairings will be held this weekend.
