By Cort Reynolds
ADA__After a season-long 10-day layoff, the Ada High School boys basketball team played hard but lost 61-34 to bigger and skilled Northwest Conference foe Crestview on February 2, playing at home on Senior Night.
The Bulldogs fell to 3-13 overall and 0-5 in the NWC with the defeat. The Knights improved to 12-6 and 4-2 in the NWC after the win.
Ada played with good energy but due mostly to turnovers, trailed by 12 points after the first period. Crestview hit the offensive boards hard and stretched the margin to 22 at halftime.
The visitors held a 47-24 advantage heading to the final quarter. The Knights won a competitive fourth period, 14-10.
“We played hard all night but you have got to give yourselves a chance against good teams,” said Ada third-year head coach Vince Halliday.
“In the first half we had 18 turnovers, six of which led to baskets. And we gave up 12 offensive rebounds in the first half that led to 10 more points. We were really bad offensively in the first half. We gave ourselves no chance.
“The second half was much cleaner, we only lost by five points,” he continued. “Defensively, I thought we did a decent job on their guards.”
Five different Knights scored early as they ran out to a 9-1 lead. Ada sophomore Zack Zimmerman buried a left wing triple with 3:37 left in the opening stanza to provide the first Bulldog field goal.
Knight sophomore guard Hayden Perrott drilled a right corner triple, and Connor Sheets scored inside on a nice Perrott dish for a 14-4 lead. A steal and layup by the speedy Perrott made it 16-4 at the end of the first quarter.
Ada’s Gabe Blankenship drilled a right wing trey to open the second stanza. Sheets sank a foul shot and a layin, followed by a left corner triple from Tommy Heffner.
Bulldog sophomore Kayleb Hickman banked in a tough left side runner, but Heffner canned a layup and Jaret Harting scored inside for a 26-9 lead midway through the period.
A right side trifecta by Zimmerman cut the deficit to 28-12.Another steal and layin by Perrott was followed by a swipe and score from Wren Sheets.
Connor Sheets then came up with another Ada turnover and converted it into a layup to put the Knights firmly on top at the half, 34-12.
Harting opened the second half with a layup, but Zimmerman answered by nailing his third trey from the right wing at the six-minute mark. Wren Sheets followed in his own miss, and Zimmerman sank a tough lane floater for a 38-17 score.
A 5-0 Knight spurt was stopped by a free throw and layup by Bulldog post Slade Gossman. Freshman Carson Conley then drove right and canned a difficult runner.
Two Zimmerman foul shots capped a 7-0 Ada flurry that pulled the hosts within 43-24 with under two minutes left in the third.
Wren Sheets countered by hitting two free throws and a short banker eight seconds before the horn to give Crestview a 47-24 lead heading to the final period.
Heffner made a driving southpaw layup to open the fourth quarter. Ethan Lawrence sank a basket for Ada, but Connor Sheets scored on a nice feed from Wren Sheets.
Perrott buried a three from the top right wing area with 4:22 left to play.
Ada freshman playmaker Kolton Dysert then burrowed his way on a snaking drive for a scoop shot that rolled in a minute later.
Two Liam Putman foul shots were answered by a follow-up stickback from Gossman. Knight Braxton Leeth splashed a triple from the right wing.
A free throw by Zimerman and a second triple from Blankenship ended the Ada scoring. Evan Hart canned a short shot to tally the last Knight basket.
“The second half we played much better,” said Halliday, whose team was outscored only 27-22 after intermission.
Zimmerman paced Ada with 14 points. Blankenship tallied six, and Gossman added five.
Perrott came off the bench to top the balanced Knights with 14 points. Wren Sheets scored a dozen points, and Heffner netted 11 markers. Harting added nine points while Connor Sheets chipped in with seven.
The Bulldogs connected on seven two-pointers and drained five triples.
Ada converted five of 10 shots from the charity stripe (50 percent).
Crestview canned 21 two-pointers and sank four treys. The Knights converted seven of 13 from the free throw line (54 percent).
The Bulldog reserves lost 51-20 to lower the Ada JV record to 8-8. Gavin Oldfield and Blake Zoladz each scored five points for the Bulldogs.
Ada senior cagers Carson Gossard and Gabe Blankenship were recognized before the game.
The Bulldogs visit North Baltimore (5-9) Saturday night, Feb. 3. NB lost to Ridgemont 79-55 Friday.
“The good news is we have a game Saturday against a team we can compete with,” said Halliday.
“They have one key guy, Owen Clark, about 6-3. He scored 40 points in their last game vs. Woodmore.”
Ada 34 (3-13, 0-5 NWC)
Oldfield 0 0-0 0,
Zimmerman 4 3-4 14,
Hickman 1 0-0 2,
Dysert 1 1-2 3,
Green 0 0-0 0,
Blankenship 2 0-0 6,
Gossard 0 0-0 0,
House 0 0-0 0,
Conley 1 0-0 2,
Gossman 2 1-2 5,
Lawrence 1 0-2 2.
Totals: 7-5/5-10/34. 3-pointers: Zimmerman 3, Blankenship 2.
C’view 61 (12-6, 4-2 NWC)
Perrott 5 2-2 14,
Leeth 1 1-2 4,
Heffner 5 0-0 11,
Harting 4 1-3 9,
Hart 1 0-0 2,
W. Sheets 5 2-2 12,
Putman 0 2-2 2,
C Sheets 3 1-2 7.
Totals: 21-4/7-13/61. 3-pointers: Perrott 2, Heffner 1, Leeth 1.
SCOREBOARD
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | FINAL | |
| ADA | 4 | 8 | 12 | 10 | 34 |
| CVW | 16 | 18 | 14 | 13 | 61 |
JV: Crestview 51, Ada 20.
