By Cort Reynolds
ADA - Rock-solid Kalida methodically wore down the Ada boys basketball team to spoil the Bulldog home opener 56-41 in a hard-fought non-league battle Friday night.
The Bulldogs fell to 0-3 with the defeat, while visiting Kalida improved to 1-1 with the win.
"Give credit to Kalida, they have a good program but I am extremely proud of our guys," said Ada head coach Dre White. "We kept it close and had chances to make it even closer; we just need to convert better on our opportunities.
"Defensively I thought we did fine," he continued. "Kalida is a big team, and they played well inside and out. They made six of nine three's in the first half. They were balanced and shot it well."
The diverse Kalida attack had four different players knock down triples in the opening stanza. Luke Erhart, a 6-5 sophomore southpaw, canned a trey to start the scoring.
Ada senior post Connor Frazier answered with a power layup before 6-4 Owen Recker scored on a short lane post-up. Bulldog sophomore guard Zac Swaney buried a right wing triple to tie it 5-5.
A right corner trifecta by 6-3 Kalida senior forward Trevor Lambert and a layup from 6-1 Evan Roebke put the visitors on top, 10-5.
Another right wing trey by Swaney cut the lead to two before Recker splashed a right corner triple. A left wing trey by 6-4 senior Grant Laudick advanced the Wildcat margin to 16-8.
Swaney canned a breakaway layup off a long Frazier pass two seconds before the buzzer to slice the deficit to six after one period.
Erhart banked in a short hook to open the second quarter. Laudick sank a layup yet Ada junior Phillip Coulson converted four straight foul shots to pull within 20-14.
Swaney answered a Gabe Hovest transition layup with two free throws. Junior guard Hovest then swished a left corner triple at the 1:50 mark to build the Wildcat lead to nine.
Two more Coulson charity stripers and a Brandon Hull layup from Frazier edged the Bulldogs within 25-20 at the 39-second mark.
But then Kalida put on a crucial 5-0 spurt to end the half and regain key momentum. Recker sank two foul shots, and then the smothering Wildcats stole the ball behind their fullcourt zone press.
After rebounding a miss, Roebke splashed a dagger three from the top of the key with 10 ticks left before intermission to build the lead to 30-20 at halftime.
"That little spurt to end the half hurt," White admitted.
Roebke made a driving layin to start the second half. Frazier responded by powering in a follow of his own miss despite heavy traffic. Coulson then drained a long left wing triple to make it 32-25 at the 5:47 mark.
But Laudick knocked down an open left elbow shot, and Lambert converted a backdoor baseline layup to rebuild the lead to 11.
Swaney grabbed an offensive rebound and drilled an open 14-footer. He then drained a left corner trey after two Kalida foul shots to keep Ada within striking distance, down 38-30 with 3:19 left in the third.
Erhart responded by sinking a short hook shot, followed by a Lambert layup. Frazier made a steal and converted a coast to coast drive to make it 42-32 heading to the final period.
Ada's chance to rally was turned back when Kalida reeled off the first six points of the fourth quarter. Coulson stopped the decisive 10-2 Wildcat flurry by drilling a left wing trey with 5:47 remaining to cut the margin to 48-35.
Yet Roebke sank a short bank shot and Lambert canned a foul line jumper to put the game out of reach at 52-35 with four minutes to go.
Coulson cut well to the hoop and hit a layup off an in-bounds pass with 3:30 left. At the 2:36 juncture, Frazier banked in a short right side shot to inch within 13.
But Roebke canned two foul shots, and Warnecke sank a layup after receiving a long pass over the desperation Bulldog press to go in front by 17. Frazier's short basket with 68 seconds remaining closed out the scoring.
Ada committed 17 costly turnovers, 11 in the first half. "Their press bothered us some, but a lot of our turnovers were self-inflicted," White offered.
"We got kind of careless with the ball on the back side of their press after we broke it several times."
Lambert paced Kalida with 13 points while Roebke added 11. Recker and Erhart each netted nine points, and Laudick added seven.
Swaney led Ada with a career-high 15 points on the strength of three triples. "Zac played well and played hard," said White.
Despite constant double-teaming Frazier scored 10 points, grabbed eight rebounds, dished out three assists and blocked four shots. "Connor found the open guys out of the double and triple teams," White observed.
Hard-driving Coulson added 14 points. "Phil played well," said White. "I am proud of our effort, we just have to figure out the offensive end and knock down shots. We only had four guys score."
Kalida sank 21 field goals, including one trey apiece by six different players. The Wildcats converted eight of 11 free throws (73 percent).
Ada canned 14 baskets, including five trifectas. The Bulldogs nailed eight of 10 foul shots (80 percent). "Foul shooting was a positive improvement," White pointed out.
The Bulldog junior varsity also lost to Kalida, 45-17. Tristan Conley led Ada with six points while Trent Ennis added five.
Ada 41 (0-3)
Mullins 0, Frazier 5 0-0 10, Coulson 3 6-6 14, Hull 1 0-2 2, Z. Swaney 5 2-2 15, Hall 0, Gautier 0, Miller 0, Cook 0.
Totals: 14/8-10/41. 3-pointers: Z. Swaney 3, Coulson 2.
Kalida 56 (1-1)
Warnecke 1 0-0 2, Hovest 2 0-0 5, Lambert 5 2-2 13, Recker 2 4-6 9, Roebke 4 2-2 11, Ehart 4 0-0 9, Laudick 3 0-0 7.
Totals: 21/8-11/56. 3-pointers: Lambert 1, Hovest 1, Recker 1, Roebke 1, Erhart 1, Laudick 1.
1 2 3 4 F
Ada 10 10 12 9 41
Kal 16 14 12 14 56
JV: Kalida 45, Ada 17.
Ada (0-1 home) hosts always-tough Ottoville (1-1) Saturday night, Dec. 8. The Big Green rallied from a big deficit but lost 54-49 at Columbus Grove Friday. Ottoville whipped Temple Christian by 23 in its opener on the road.
"They are long and athletic," said White of the Big Green, adding that he thought they were probably even better than Kalida.
