By Cort Reynolds
ADA __The Ada High School boys basketball team lost a tough defensive battle 48-40 to visiting Van Buren in a Blanchard Valley Conference contest on January 17.
The Bulldogs fell to 9-6 overall and 4-2 in the BVC after the hard-fought defeat. Van Buren improved to 8-5 overall and 4-2 in BVC play with the win.
VB turned the game around with a decisive 16-6 third period. Ada played hard but the Black Knights took advantage of 22 Bulldog turnovers and poor Ada three-point shooting to win.
“It is very hard to win when you make 22 turnovers, give up 10 transition points and shoot one for 13 from three,” said Ada head coach Chris Sautter.
VB jumped out to a quick 7-2 lead before Bulldog junior Kayleb Hickman made a driving layup. Two foul shots by Ada sophomore Carson Conley cut it to 7-6.
Sophomore guard Kolton Dysert sank a floater to pull the hosts within 11-8 after the opening stanza.
Hickman sank two layups to open the second period and give the hosts their first lead at 12-11. Knight Seth Gregory made a transition southpaw layin before Conley regained the lead with two foul shots.
Zack Zimmerman drained a left wing triple to put Ada on top 17-13 with 4:55 left before intermission.
Martin canned consecutive transition layups to tie it 17-17 at the 1:55 mark. Zimmerman and Oldfield each hit two free throws. Conley stole the ball and went coast to coast for a layup to provide a 23-21 intermission edge.
Zimmerman opened the second half with a southpaw fast break banker. Lucas Harrington splashed a right wing trey to put VB back on top, 26-25.
Oldfield sank a follow shot at the 5:11 juncture. Martin powered in a layup, but Slade Gossman scored inside off a nice pick and roll feed from Zimmerman to give Ada its last lead.
VB junior Alex Homan stole the ball and drove for a layup, then nailed a triple from the top of the key to put the Knights ahead for good, 33-29.
Harrington later sank a backdoor layup to cap a 9-0 run to end the quarter. VB took advantage of seven Ada turnovers in the period to win the stanza by 10 and change the momentum.
The Knights stretched their run to 11 unanswered points when Gregory leaked out for a transition layup to start the fourth quarter. Gossman muscled inside and made a high-arching layup to stop the spurt with 6:36 remaining.
Harrington sank a driving layup, followed by a Martin steal and coast to coast layup for a 43-31 lead. Oldfield scored inside off a Conley dish to cut the margin to 10 at the three-minute mark.
Homan then drove and made a spinning layup and a foul shot to build the lead to 13 at the 1:46 mark. Zimmerman hit two free tosses, followed by a Hickman steal and prone assist to Dysert for a layin that cut the deficit to 46-37 with 1:23 left.
But the Knights broke the Ada press and Martin made an uncontested layup to stem the Bulldog momentum at the 1:11 point. Oldfield then slapped an offensive rebound tip to Dysert for a layup with 41.1 ticks to go as Ada inched within 48-39.
Conley split two charity stripers to cut the margin to eight. Hickman made another steal, but Ada missed the ensuing three to end the comeback bid.
“It is hard to defend for 32 minutes when you aren’t scoring,” said Sautter.
Zimmerman led Ada with 11 points. Conley tallied seven markers. Hickman, Oldfield and Dysert each added six points. Gossman scored four.
Martin topped balanced VB with 14 points. Harrington tallied 13 markers, and Homan added 10.
Ada connected on 13 two-point field goals, and the Bulldogs made just one triple in 13 tries. Ada converted 11 of its 12 free throws (92 percent).
The Knights canned 19 two-pointers and splashed three trifectas. VB converted just one of five foul shots (20 percent).
Ada fell to 2-4 at home after the defeat.
The Bulldogs lost the JV game, 38-25. Andrew Allen scored seven points.
Ada visits county rival Hardin Northern (5-8) Saturday night as they try to end a three-game losing skid. The Polar Bears were upset at previously winless Perry Friday, 45-41.
“Wilson is a big strong left hander, averages about 18 points a game,” Sautter noted. “They have another 6-4 kid who offensive rebounds well, and a couple of guys who can shoot it.
”They get up in you on defense,” he added.
Liberty-Benton (12-1) sits alone atop the league at 6-0 after smothering Arlington (11-2, 4-1 BVC) Friday night in their surprisingly lopsided showdown, 51-27.
Ada 40 (9-6, 4-2 BVC)
Oldfield 2 2-2 6, Dysert 3 0-0 6, Zimmerman 3 4-4 11, Green 0 0-0 0, Conley 1 5-6 7, Hickman 3 0-0 6, Gossman 2 0-0 4.
Totals: 13-1/11-12/40. 3-pointers (1-13): Zimmerman 1.
VB 48 (7-5, 4-2 BVC)
Gregory 3 0-0 7, Homan 4 1-4 10, Lance 1 0-0 2, Harrington 6 0-1 13, Martin 7 0-0 14, Busey 1 0-0 2.
Totals: 19-3/1-5/48. 3-pointers: Gregory 1, Homan 1, Harrington 1.
|
ADA VAN BUREN |
1 8 11 |
2 15 10 |
3 6 16 |
4 11 11 |
FINAL 40 48 |
JV: VB 38, Ada 25.
