By Cort Reynolds
ARLINGTON - Visiting Ada fell far behind non-conference rival Arlington early yet rallied, only to come up short in a 47-38 boys basketball makeup battle Tuesday night.
The purple and gold fell to 3-14 with the loss, while the Red Devils improved to 13-4 with their fifth straight win.
The Bulldogs trailed 21-9 after the first period and 32-16 at halftime. Ada came back after intermission and limited Arlington to just 15 second half points while scoring 22 themselves. But it was not enough to surpass the big halftime deficit.
"An out of routine Tuesday night game and a slow start hurt us early," Bulldog third-year head coach Dre White observed. "We dug a hole that we couldn't overcome.
"Disappointing as I felt the kids had an opportunity to steal one against a very good team," he continued. "I would have liked for it to be a Friday night game."
Sophomore guard Zac Swaney led Ada with 16 points on the strength of four three-point field goals.
Ada junior wing Phillip Coulson tallied 10 points and sophomore playmaker Brandon Hull added seven.
Red Devil junior point guard Jaret Vermillion canned four trifectas en route to a game-high 19 points.
Ryan Metzger contributed 14 markers to support Vermillion.
Ada was out-rebounded by the Devils, 39-28. Senior post Ethan Hall led the Bulldogs with seven caroms.
Ada committed only eight turnovers to 13 miscues by the Devils.
Ada connected on 12 of 37 two-point field goal tries (32 percent) and drained four of 16 three-point goals (25 percent). The Bulldogs converted just two of eight foul shot attempts (25 percent).
Overall, Ada found the bottom of the net on 16 of 53 field attempts (30 percent).
Arlington canned 18 of 44 shots from the field (41 percent), including four of 14 from beyond the arc (29 percent). Inside the three-point line the Devils made 14 of 30 shots (47 percent).
The Red Devils connected on seven of 13 at the charity stripe (54 percent).
Ada 38 (3-14)
Swaney 6-0-16, Mullins 1-0-2, Hull 3-1-7, Frazier 1 1-1 3, Coulson 5-0-10, Hall 0.
Totals: 16-53/2-8/38. 3-pointers: Swaney 4.
Arlington 47 (13-4)
Vermillion 6-3-19, Metzger 6-2-14, Russell 1-0-2, Berry 3-0-6, Speyer 1-0-2, Webb 1-2-4.
Totals: 18-44/7-13/47. 3-pointers: Vermillion 4.
1 2 3 4 F
Ada 9 7 10 12 38
Arl 21 11 8 7 47
No JV game.
Ada (0-6 away, 2-3 NWC) looks for its first road win of the season when the Bulldogs visit Lincolnview (9-8, 4-2 NWC) Friday in a league encounter.
The Lancers (5-3 home) have lost three consecutive games, including a 67-43 defeat at arch-rival Crestview last Friday.
"Brett (Hammons) does a great job over there," said White. "Lincolnview is a fun but tough environment to play in. I would love to see our guys put together 32 minutes of our best basketball and see what happens."
The Ada boys Div. IV sectional drawing is Sunday.
