By Cort Reynolds

ADA - Ada put on a big second half run and Owen Conley netted a career-high in points to lead the Bulldogs over visiting local foe Cory-Rawson 57-51 Wednesday night in a non-league boys basketball tilt.

The Bulldogs trailed 31-26 in the third period before going on a decisive 26-4 flurry to seize control of the game, 50-37. Conley poured in 31 points, including 20 in the first half and seven in the fourth period, to pace Ada to victory.

"We rode Owen pretty hard in the first half," noted first-year Ada head coach Dre White. "He is capable of doing that, and we have been begging him to get in the low post to score, too."    

The Bulldogs improved to 2-3 after posting their first home win in four tries. Meanwhile the Hornets fell to 3-3 with the loss.

Ada got key contributions in their second half run from their bench. Jackson Conrad scored four big points, Connor Frazier netted a basket and dished out two fine interior assists, and Mason Klingler canned three clutch foul shots to help power Ada to the win.

"We had some guys step up for us in the second half who have not been getting a lot of minutes," said White. "Mason, Jackson and Connor all made big plays."

Bryce Tuttle led C-R with 19 points, but was held without a point over the final 11 minutes. "We switched up some things on defense and put Jordan Bailey on him in the second half," noted White. "Jordan and a couple other guys slowed him down."

Ada sank 19 field goals, including five triples. The Bulldogs outscored C-R 14-3 at the charity stripe. The Hornets made 22 field goals but took only seven free throws compared to 22 by Ada.

The Ada reserves lost, 37-20. Jarrod Spencer led the Bulldog JV (0-5) with nine points.

Ada 57 (2-3)
Conley 10 9-11 31, Swaney 1 0-0 2, Klingler 0 3-4 3, Hoschak 1 0-0 2, Evans 2 0-1 5, Bailey 2 2-4 8, Mullins 0, Frazier 1 0-0 2, Conrad 2 0-2 4.
Totals: 19/14-22/57. 3-pointers: Bailey 2, Conley 2, Evans 1.

C-R 51 (3-3)
Abell 2 0-0 5, Ritter 5 0-0 12, Zuercher 1 3-4 5, Schultz 1 0-0 2, Misamore 3 0-1 6, Tuttle 9 0-2 19, Kisseberth 1 0-0 2.
Totals: 22/3-7/51. 3-pointers: Ritter 2, Tuttle 1, Abell 1.

    1    2    3    4    F
Ada    9    14    16    18    57    
C-R    8    15    12    16    51        
JV: C-R 37, Ada 20.

Ada is now idle until January 3.
No makeup date has been set for the makeup game at Perry (4-0) which was postponed December 20 by inclement weather. A tentative possible date is January 10.