The Ada High School boys basketball team finished on an 8-2 run to defeat visiting New Knoxville 47-42 in a hard-fought non-conference battle Thursday night, December 23.
Clutch junior guard Spencer Wall sank a driving layup and a driving bank shot 25 seconds apart to put the Bulldogs ahead 43-40 with 2:11 remaining.
Ada junior Carter Conley and Wall each canned two free throws in the final 41 seconds to preserve the win.
The Bulldogs improved to 4-4 overall with their second straight victory, and they surpassed last season's win total with the triumph.
NK dropped to 1-8 with the defeat.
"Spencer's baskets were huge down the stretch," said first-year Ada head coach Vince Halliday. "We turned it over too much, but when the game was on the line we kept our poise. The last four free throws sealed it."
Conley fired in a season-high 25 points on the strength of five triples. "Carter was really good, and made shots like we know he can," said Halliday.
Bulldog senior Cayden Murphy started the game with a conventional three-point play inside. Conley then took over, scoring the next nine Ada points.
He sank a short bank shot, then drilled a trey from out top. He then converted a fast break layin and another layup to give the purple and gold a 12-7 lead.
NK inched within 12-10 after the first perod on a layup from Tyler Lammers.
"I thought we came out early and played well," said Halliday.
Consecutive triples by Ranger Troy Dwenger early in the second stanza gave the visitors a 15-13 edge. Conley put Ada back on top by nailing a left wing three. Murphy then netted a putback layin.
Wall netted a transition layin, followed by another Conley trifecta from the right wing as the Bulldogs pulled ahead, 24-16.
After a Ryan Osborne free toss ended the 11-1 Ada run, Conley splashed yet another trey, this one from the right side.
A Jaden Leal layup gave the hosts a 29-19 margin, followed by an alley-oop layin from NK sophomore Jay Waterman that cut the deficit to eight at intermission.
Conley poured in 18 of his points in the first half, scoring nine in each quarter.
Conley sank two foul shots and a right corner triple early in the third stanza to keep Ada in front, 34-25.
Wall spun in an old-fashioned driving three-point play off glass to extend the lead to 37-27. But the Rangers then got back in the game with an 8-0 flurry.
NK senior guard Max Henschen sank a nice left-handed drive and a pull-up three-pointer to inch the Rangers within 37-35 at the 1:26 mark.
Wall then stopped the run by knocking down a spinning bank shot that gave the Bulldogs a four-point advantage heading to the final quarter.
"We got the lead up to 10 and they responded well there with number three (Henschen)," Halliday observed. "But Spencer made a big basket at the end of the third quarter."
NK quickly tied it 39-all on two foul shots and a layin from Lammers to cap a 12-2 spurt. Murphy blocked a shot to keep the score knotted up with 3:07 remaining.
Yet NK took its first lead since early in the seocnd stanza on a free throw by Carson Bierlein.
Wall then answered by hitting a driving layup to give Ada the lead 41-40. Bierlein hit two free throws to keep NK within 43-42.
NK missed several short shots and a few three-point tries in the final minute. After Conley sank two charity stripers with 40.9 seconds to play, Ethan Murphy came up with a big defensive rebound off a potential tying missed three by Bierlein.
Wall was fouled with 22 ticks left and he sank both shots to extend the lead to five. NK missed multiple shots in the final seconds.
"New Knoxvile is a young team that doesn't know how to win yet," offered Halliday. "We are learning how to win now. We gave up too many offensive rebounds. But we were able to put our head down and make a few big buckets down the stretch."
Wall supported Conley with 15 key points, 11 of which came in the second half.
Henschen led NK with 11 points. Bierlein added eight markers, and Osborne tallied seven.
Ada connected on 17 baskets, hitting 12 two-pointers and five trifectas by Conley. The Bulldogs converted eight of their nine charity stripe tries (89 percent).
NK drained 14 baskets, connecting on 10 two-pointers and four treys. They hit on 10 of 15 free throw attempts (67 percent).
The Ada junior varsity lost a close battle, 24-21. The Bulldogs hoisted three triple tries to try in the final eight seconds, but couldn't quite tie it up.
Ada 47 (4-4)
C. Murphy 2 1-1 5, Conley 8 4-4 25, Sutherly 0, Leal 1 0-0 2, Wall 6 3-4 15, Preston 0, E. Murphy 0.
Totals: 12-5/8-9/47. 3-pointers: Conley 5.
New Knoxville 42 (1-8)
Henschen 4 2-4 11, Osborne 3 1-2 7, Dwenger 2 0-0 6, Waterman 2 1-1 6, Bierlein 1 6-8 8, Lammers 2 0-0 4.
Totals: 10-4/10-15/42. 3-pointers: Dwenger 2, Waterman 1, Henschen 1.
1 2 3 4 F
Ada 12 17 10 8 47
NK 10 11 14 7 42
JV: NK 24, Ada 21.
Ada plays unbeaten arch-rival USV (7-0) Wednesday, Dec. 29 in the semifinals of the Border Battle tournament at Allen East. The tournament third-place and finals games will be Thursday, Dec. 30 at AE.
