By Cort Reynolds
ADA - Visiting Cory-Rawson outscored Ada 22-10 down the stretch to defeat the non-league local rival Bulldogs 51-44 in a hard-fought boys basketball battle Wednesday night.
The tough-luck Bulldogs drop to 0-7 with the defeat, while the Hornets improve to 2-3 with the victory.
The purple and gold led 34-29 after a reverse layup by Phillip Coulson off a nice baseline back cut and Brandon Hull feed. But then Cory, which had led most of the first 20 minutes, began to rally.
Junior Carson Houck canned a half-hook, followed by a stickback layup from Carson Stauffer. Kyle Schultz then drained a long left wing triple at the third period buzzer to give C-R a 36-34 lead as well as the momentum.
"Overall I was happy with the effort, we played hard and well in spurts," said Ada third-year head coach Dre White. "They hit some dagger three's at the end of quarters. We have got to do a better job of finishing quarters."
Senior Schultz canned a floater to open the final stanza. Yet Coulson canned a southpaw stickback and Connor Frazier tied it when his right baseline half-hook bounced in with 5:24 remaining.
Houck broke the deadlock by converting two foul shots. Ada tied it again at 41-all at the 2:15 mark on a power layup from Ethan Hall and a Frazier free toss.
Stauffer split two charity stripers and banked in a short shot after a head fake to put the Hornets back in front for good at 44-41 with 1:30 to go.
Ada committed a costly turnover, and Houck sank a left-handed layin off nice interior passing to build the lead to five with 77 seconds left.
Ada missed a corner trey and Matthew Roth converted two foul shots to build the lead to seven with 28.8 seconds remaining. After a Bulldog miss, Schultz sank a fast break layin to cap the tie-breaking 9-0 spurt.
Bulldog soph guard Zac Swaney splashed a high-arching right wing trifecta that cut the deficit to 50-44 at the 13.4-second mark. But Houck sank one free toss with 9.2 seconds left to finish the scoring.
"We had a nice third quarter, scoring 19 points," White noted. "We had chances to expand on our lead but didn't. We made some lackadaisical mistakes and let them back in it."
Coulson led Ada with 19 points while Frazier added 10. "Phil played really well and hard, and Zac was a factor defensively," said White.
Houck topped all scorers with 25 points, and Schultz contributed 14 markers.
The fiery Coulson scored all six Ada points in the opening stanza. Houck countered with seven markers inside to lead the Hornets to an 11-6 bulge after one period of play.
Ada inched within 13-9 on three foul shots before Schultz drained a top of the key triple. Hull sank a layin off a nice Frazier pass, and Hall sank two foul shots to slice the deficit to 16-13 midway through the second quarter.
C-R spurted back in front by on a hook by Houck and a Schultz transition layin. Frazier tallied a power layup, but Houck drilled a left wing triple just a single second before the halftime horn to give Cory a 23-15 intermission edge.
Ada came out with great defensive intensity to start the third quarter, turning the contest in its favor. Swaney began the half with a strong baseline driving basket, followed by a Coulson bunny shot.
Two consecutive Frazier field goals finished an 8-2 flurry that pulled Ada within 25-23. Moments later, a conventional three-point play by Coulson cut the Cory advantage to 27-26.
Coulson then buried a left wing triple to give Ada its first lead since it was 4-2, capping a 14-4 splurge. Houck tied it by converting two at the stripe, yet Ada reeled off five unanswered points to temporarily regain control.
Sophomore Micah Cook splashed a right corner three to give the purple and gold the lead back, 32-29. Coulson then hit the reverse layin that gave the Bulldogs their biggest lead of five points, but Cory ran off nine points in a row to take the lead and momentum back.
"Their zone slowed us down," White offered. "Cory hit some big shots at the end of the second and third quarters that hurt us."
Ada out-rebounded the Hornets, 35-24. Frazier grabbed 11 boards while Coulson contributed eight caroms.
The Bulldogs committed 19 turnovers while C-R made 16 errors. Ada knocked down 16 of 44 field goal tries (36 percent), including three of 12 triples (25 percent) and 13 of 32 inside the arc (41 percent).
C-R sank 19 baskets in 38 field tries (50 percent), including four of nine trifectas (44 percent). The Hornets sank 15 of 29 two-point tries (52 percent).
Ada canned nine of 14 free throw tries (64 percent), while Cory converted nine of 17 (53 percent) at the charity stripe.
"We didn't shoot it well," summed up White. "If we shoot in the 30's, it magnifies everything else our kids need to do to win. We need to figure out how to win close games. It's tough, but the kids are learning how hard you have to play (in order) to win."
Ada (2-4) also lost the reserve contest, 49-34. Ty Miller scored nine points and Bryce Paul added eight.
Ada 44 (0-7)
Mullins 0 1-2 1, Frazier 4 2-5 10, Coulson 7 4-5 19, Hall 1 2-2 4, Swaney 2 0-0 5, Hull 1 0-0 2, Cook 1 0-0 3.
Totals: 16-44/9-14/44. 3-pointers (3-12): Swaney 1, Coulson 1, Cook 1.
C-R 51 (2-3)
Roth 0 2-2 2, Stuckey 0 1-2 1, Lee 1 0-0 2, Houck 9 5-7 25, Stauffer 3 1-4 7, Schultz 6 0-2 14.
Totals: 19-38/9-17/51. 3-pointers (4-9): Houck 2, Schultz 2.
1 2 3 4 F
Ada 6 9 19 10 44
C-R 11 12 13 15 51
JV: C-R 49, Ada 34.
Ada (0-3 home, 0-1 NWC) hosts winless Delphos Jefferson (0-6, 0-0 NWC) Friday, Dec. 21 in the Bulldog home league opener. DJ edged Ada 43-37 last year in Delphos.
"We have to bounce back Friday," said White. "Jefferson is having a lot of the same struggles as us on offense. Coach Jettinghoff will have them ready and they will be excited to play. It is an NWC game and the last one before Christmas."
As for common opponents thus far Ada and DJ have both lost to Ottoville by 19, and to Perry by 29 and 24 points, respectively.
Ada hosts the second annual Border Battle tournament Dec. 28-29. The Bulldogs play rival USV in the second semifinal at approximately 8 p.m., preceded by Waynesfield and Allen East squaring off in the first semi at 6 p.m.
