By Cort Reynolds
ADA – The Ada High School boys basketball team battled back from a big deficit to force overtime, but ultimately lost a hard-fought 56-53 thriller to backyard rival Allen East in the taut home opener Saturday night, December 7.
| 1 2 3 4 OT | Final | |
| Ada | 9 7 23 9 5 | 53 |
| AE | 12 18 0 8 8 | 56 |
JV: AE 51, Ada 47.
AE canned eight of its ten foul shots in the extra session, including three by Brady Brooks in the final 61 seconds, to account for all of their OT points.
Ada had a chance to tie it with a three-pointer in the waning seconds, but couldn’t get a final shot off against the tight Mustang defense before the buzzer sounded.
The Bulldogs fell to 2-2 with the non-league defeat in their first home game after playing three road contests to start the campaign.
AE improved to 3-1 after the hard-earned win. It was the first time in 60 years the two local rivals met as non-Northwest Conference foes after Ada joined the BVC.
“The kids played hard the second half, but we gotta do it for 32 minutes, not just 16,” said Bulldog head coach Chris Sautter. “We turned it over too much, gave up too many offensive rebounds, and gave up too many transition points in the first half.”
Ada junior Kayleb Hickman sank a putback to give the hosts a 2-0 edge, but the Bulldogs did not lead again until the first basket in overtime.
AE answered with a 9-0 run as Brooks scored five points. The visitors held that lead almost the entire game despite Ada chipping away at the deficit throughout the second half.
A right corner triple by Ada junior Zack Zimmerman ended the Mustang run. A Slade Gossman power layup, and Zimmerman’s lane runner at the buzzer pulled the Bulldogs within 12-9.
A left wing trifecta by Ethan Young gave AE a 19-12 advantage with 3:28 left in the second stanza. Bulldog Gavin Oldfield sank a half hook to cut it to five 41 seconds later.
AE then reeled off eight straight points to build a 27-14 cushion at the 1:33 mark. Hunter Williams splashed a trey from the top of the key, followed by a long Deacon Jones left wing swisher for three more.
Zimmerman halted the spurt by hitting two foul shots at the 1:09 mark. But Braelyn Schultz continued the long-range assault by hitting a triple from the left side with 35 ticks left in the half to make it 30-16 at intermission.
Zimmerman followed in his own miss to start the second half. Young answered with yet another trifecta at the seven-minute mark. Bulldog Carson Conley responded by nailing a trey from the right side out top.
Jones drained a left wing triple 15 seconds later to make it 36-21. Ada then began its comeback by making three foul shots.
Young converted a transition layup at the 4:42 juncture. Zimmerman nailed a left side triple nine seconds later. Zimmerman then splashed a three from the right wing, prompting an AE timeout with their lead whittled down to 38-30 with 3:47 left in the third stanza.
Schultz sank a driving layup, followed by two Hickman free tosses.
Senior Levi Green then changed the momentum for Ada. He made a foul shot, then followed his own miss and drove hard for a layup to cut the lead to 40-35.
A fired-up Green took a charge at the 2:08 mark. Zimmerman banked in a runner with 1:50 left. Green then canned two foul shots to slice the deficit to 40-39 heading to the fourth quarter.
“Levi was the energy off the bench in the second half,” Sautter agreed. Behind his hustle and Zimmerman’s offense, Ada ended the period on a 15-2 run. The Bulldogs outscored AE 23-10 in the turnaround stanza.
With six minutes left in the fourth, Mustang Logan Helser sank a breakaway layup off a loose-ball scrum to stop a 9-0 Ada spurt. But Hickman drained a triple from the top of the key at 5:49 to tie it for the first time since it was 0-0.
Sixteen seconds later, 5-8 junior Brooks untied it by burying a triple from out top. Oldfield canned two free throws at the 4:57 mark, and Young split a pair at the charity stripe.
AE then had a near three-minute possession when they went to a semi-delay game while also grabbing two offensive rebounds. Helser eventually sank a backdoor layup with 1:55 left to put the Mustangs ahead, 48-44.
Conley canned a running banker at the 1:21 juncture to pull within two. Zimmerman then stole the ball with 1:10 to go in regulation. Ada then had a long possession of its own.
Kolton Dysert’s driving scoop shot was blocked out of bounds by Williams. A foul was then called on AE as they stole a post entry pass to give Ada a reprieve.
The gutty Dysert then drove left and lofted a one-footed, 11-foot runner that rimmed around and in for his only basket with seven seconds left to tie it 48-all.
AE rushed the ball upcourt but lost the dribble for a second, resulting in a desperation triple that sailed well wide at the horn.
Hickman drove the left baseline on the first OT possession and dished nicely to Oldfield in the lane for a layup to provide the first Ada lead since it was 2-0 at 50-48.
Helser split two foul shots, followed by two Bulldog misses. Jones canned two charity stripers, and Oldfield split a pair to tie it 51-51 with 1:19 left in OT.
The spunky Brooks swished two foul shots with 61 ticks left, then made a clutch steal nine ticks later. Schultz drained two free tosses to build the lead to four at the 41-second mark.
Oldfield grabbed a driving airball in midair and laid it in with 15.8 seconds remaining. Brooks was fouled 1.5 ticks later and sank the first foul shot. Ada then took its last timeout, and Brooks missed the second free toss to keep the lead at three.
Ada rebounded and Conley drove the lane, but got trapped close to the basket when he picked up his dribble. Dysert was smothered out top and could not get off a potential tying three.
His crosscourt pass found Zimmerman in the left corner, but the final buzzer blared before he could get off a midair catch-and-shoot triple.
Sautter said that the last play was planned for Conley to drive and kick out to Zimmerman or Dysert for a corner three.
AE missed its first free throw in overtime, then made eight in a row before missing the last foul shot that gave Ada a chance to force a second OT.
The game was extremely hard-fought, with several loose ball scrums. One such extended scramble for a loose sphere resulted in seven of the 10 players diving on the hardwood.
Zimmerman led all scorers with 19 points. Oldfield netted nine markers. Conley tallied eight points, and Hickman added seven.
Brooks and Jones led a balanced AE attack with 11 points apiece. Helser scored nine points, while Young added eight markers. Schultz chipped in with seven.
Ada connected on 12 two-pointers and knocked down five triples. The Bulldogs converted 14 of 21 free throws (67 percent).
AE also canned a dozen two-pointers and drilled seven trifectas. The Mustangs made 11 of 17 foul shots (65 percent).
“We are still trying to find guys who want to make the play at the end of games,” Sautter noted. “We are trying to play smarter, to understand matchups and personnel better.
“We have to stay out of foul trouble,” he added.
AE also won a close JV game, 51-47. Caleb Lybarger led the Mustang reserves with 12 points. Connor McKean topped Ada with 14 points, while Blake Zoladz added 12.AE started the three-game sweep Saturday by winning the freshman bout, 51-15.
Ada 53 (2-2)
Oldfield 3 3-6 9, Dysert 1 0-0 2, Zimmerman 6 4-4 19, Green 1 3-5 5, Conley 3 1-2 8, Hickman 2 2-2 7, Gossman 1 0-0 2, Lawrence 0 1-2 1, Erickson 0 0-0 0.
Totals: 12-5/14-21/53. 3-pointers: Zimmerman 3, Conley 1, Hickman 1.
AE 56 (3-1)
Slusser 2 1-2 5, Schultz 2 2-2 7, Jones 3 2-2 11, Helser 4 1-2 9, Young 3 1-3 8, Brooks 3 4-5 11, Nickles 1 0-1 2, Williams 1 0-0 3.
Totals: 12-7/11-17/56. 3-pointers: Jones 3, Brooks 1, Young 1, Schultz 1, Williams 1.
Ada (1-0 BVC) plays at league foe Riverdale (2-3, 0-1 BVC) Friday, December 13. The Falcons lost to league rival Leipsic 59-43 Friday, and fell at Pandora-Gilboa 47-41 Saturday.
Nine of the first 11 Bulldog contests are away from home.
