By Cort Reynolds
ADA__Playing at home, the Ada High School boys basketball team lost 65-40 to hot-shooting New Knoxville on a rare Tuesday night game, December 19.
The young Bulldogs fell to 0- 6 with the non-league defeat.
The Rangers improved to 3-3 with the victory. NK junior guard Jay Schroeder poured in 27 points to pace the victors.
“Unfortunately they came out and hit shots early,” said Ada third-year head coach Vince Halliday. “That start relaxed them and put us on our heels, and we never recovered.
“We threw the ball away too much, over-dribbled and made a lot of unforced turnovers,” he added.
NK jumped ahead 5-0 and never trailed.
A triple from the top of the key by Zach Zimmerman got Ada on the board 2:07 into the fray. Schroeder followed in his own miss, and Andrew Leffel splashed a left corner trey to make it 10-3.
Slade Gossman scored inside off a Carson Conley dish midway through the period to cut the Ada deficit to five. But then the Rangers heated up.
Schroeder canned a right wing trifecta, followed by two layins from Leffel.
Ada freshman Kolton Dysert drilled a left side trey to make it 17-8 at the 1:52 mark. Yet another Schroeder three and two foul shots put NK ahead 22-8 after one period of play.
The Rangers nailed four of their five triples in the opening stanza.
Ada’s lone flurry of the night came on an 8-0 run to start the second quarter. Senior Carson Gossard knocked down a triple from the top of the key, then made a nice driving layup down the left baseline to pull within 22-14.
Two Dysert foul shots capped the run 4:17 before intermission and inched Ada within six points. But then NK responded with a 9-0 spurt of its own to recapture command.
A Schroeder three-point play started the run, and he ended it with a nice spinning drive for a 31-16 margin a minute before the break.
A pair of Dysert foul shots ended the flurry and pulled Ada within 31-18 at intermission.
“Give New Knoxville credit, even when we made that little run in the second quarter they answered,” said Halliday.
An 8-1 Ranger spurt out of the second half gate extended the lead to 39-19. The visitors put the game out of reach with an 18-7 third quarter.
Ada senior Gabe Blankenship drilled a left wing triple, but NK reeled off the next eight points to lead by 26.
Bulldog junior Levi Green canned a driving bank shot just before the third period buzzer to make it 49-25.
NK scored the first nine points of the final stanza behind three layups to build a 33-point cushion.
Gossman then muscled inside for a basket, followed by a Zimmerman fast break layin.
Schroeder splashed a left wing triple to provide a 61-29 bulge. Zimmerman answered with an old-fashioned three-point play off a floater.
Zimmerman nailed a trifecta from out top, and Dysert sank a runner to cut the deficit to 65-38. A Gossman putback layin closed the scoring with 30 seconds left.
“The bottom line is the difference between the team’s physical and mental maturity,” Halliday summed up. “And experience, with them playing four seniors.
“Mentally we can do better, and we just have to keep working.”
Zimmerman paced Ada with 12 points. Dysert tallied nine markers, while Gossman netted seven. Gossard added six points.
Dwenger contributed 15 points. Leffel scored seven of his 13 points in the first period.
The purple and gold canned eight two-point goals and drained five triples.
Ada converted nine of 16 shots at the charity stripe (56 percent).
NK sank 20 two-pointers and canned five treys. The visiting Rangers converted 10 of 13 from the free throw line (77 percent).
Ada won the JV game 40-34 to improve to 4-2. T.J. Griffith scored 10 points, and Connor McKean added seven for the Bulldogs.
Former Ada head coach Gene Fries, a New Knoxville native, was on hand for the game. His son Doug, the school single-season points record-setter with 555 in 1978-79, was also in attendance.
Coach Fries guided the Bulldogs to seven straight NWC titles from 1976-82.
Ada 40 (0-6)
Oldfield 0, Zimmerman 4 2-3 12, Hickman 0 0-0 0, Conley 0 1-2 1, Dysert 2 4-4 9, Green 1 0-0 2, Blankenship 1 0-0 3, Gossard 2 1-5 6, House 0 0-0 0, Lawrence 0 0-0 0, Gossman 3 1-2 7.
Totals: 8-5/9-16/40. 3-pointers: Zimmerman 2, Dysert 1, Gossard 1, Blankenship 1.
NK 65 (3-3)
Leffel 5 2-2 13, Waterman 1 0-0 2, Schroeder 11 2-3 27, Dwenger 5 4-6 15, Jones 2 2-2 6, Lammers 1 0-0 2.
Totals: 20-5/10-13/65. 3-pointers: Schroeder 3, Leffel 1, Dwenger 1.
1 2 3 4 F
Ada 8 10 7 15 40
NK 22 9 18 16 65
JV: Ada 40, NK 34.
Ada (0-1 road) visits Cory-Rawson (2-2) Saturday, December 23.
The Bulldogs then travel to Waynesfield (0-5) Thursday, December 28 for a non-league contest as the nightcap of a girls/boys doubleheader.
