By Cort Reynolds
LIMA - Host Lima Temple Christian pulled away from a tight halftime battle with a big second half to defeat Ada 56-46 in non-conference boys basketball action Saturday night.
The Bulldogs drop to 4-17 with the defeat. Meanwhile, the Pioneers improve to 11-10 after the victory.
Ada trailed 14-11 after one quarter and inched within two points by halftime at 24-22. The Bulldogs had four possessions late in the first half with a chance to tie or take the lead, yet were unable to capitalize.
LTC outscored the Bulldogs 32-24 after intermission, and led by as many as 15, en route to winning by 10.
"I can't fault the effort at all, our guys played extremely hard," said Ada second-year head coach Dre White. "I was proud of that. They played with energy and fight, and were very coachable.
"Down the stretch, we didn't execute consistently enough to win," he continued. "Temple has two great players in Howell and Bowman. They were vital down the stretch and made some big plays."
Pioneer Noah Howell led all scorers with 23 points on the strength of five triples. Brody Bowman added 15 points as the duo combined for 38 of the 56 LTC points.
Sophomore wing Phillip Coulson paced Ada with 14 points. Senior guard Ethan Swaney and 6-7 senior post Seven Williams each added nine markers.
Ada found the range on 12 of 24 two-point field goal tries (50 percent), and drained seven of 21 three-point attempts (33 percent). Overall, the hosts connected on 19 of 45 floor shots (42 percent).
The Bulldogs converted one of a mere four tries from the foul line (25 percent). The hosts owned a decisive 16 to one edge in scoring at the charity stripe.
LTC sank 16 of 50 field goal tries (32 percent), including eight of 28 behind the arc (29 percent) and eight of 22 inside it (36 percent). The Pioneers also canned a crucial 16 of 20 shots from the foul line (80 percent).
"Overall I was happy with our outing - we got better tonight," White summed up. "We will continue to work on figuring out how to close out and win games."
The Bulldogs were out-rebounded by the smaller Pioneers, 32-26.
Junior post Connor Frazier led the Bulldogs with six caroms.
LTC committed just seven turnovers while Ada was guilty of 15 errors.
The Bulldog junior varsity won by 18 to improve to 11-7.
Ada 46 (4-17)
E. Swaney 4-0-9, Frazier 3-0-6, Coulson 5-1-14, Conley 1 0-0 3, Williams 4-0-9, Mullins 2 0-0 5.
Totals: 19-45/1-4/46. 3-pointers (7-21): Coulson 3, Mullins 1, Swaney 1, Conley 1, Williams 1.
LTC 56 (11-10)
Bowman 6-2-15, White 0-2-2, Howell 5-8-23, Draper 2-2-8, Clay 2-2-6, Acklin 0-2-2.
Totals: 16-50/16-20/56. 3-pointers (8-28): Howell 5, Drayer 2, Bowman 1.
1 2 3 4 F
Ada 11 11 8 16 46
LTC 14 10 13 19 56
JV: Ada 49, LTC 31.
Ada (2-5 NWC), which has lost six of its last seven contests, visits Bluffton (9-12, 3-4 NWC) in the league and regular season finale Friday, Feb. 23.
The Bulldogs are 1-9 on the road this season while the Pirates are 6-6 at home.
