By Cort Reynolds

RAWSON__The youthful Ada High School boys basketball team went on the road and earned their first victory 53-40 at non-league local foe Cory-Rawson Saturday night, December 23.

The spunky Bulldogs improved to 1-6 with the big victory.

C-R dropped to 2-4 with the home defeat. 

The Bulldogs led 7-6 after a low-scoring first period, then stretched the margin a bit to 17-12 at the half. Ada pulled further ahead by a 31-23 margin heading to the final stanza.

The Bulldogs won a high-scoring fourth quarter 22-17 to post the key win.

“We basically led wire-to-wire,” said Ada third-year head coach Vince Halliday. “The first half wasn’t pretty.

“Slade (Gossman) carried us in the first half with offensive rebounds and putbacks,” he continued. “We made some shots in the second half and got one!”

Sophomore Zach Zimmerman led Ada with 14 points, and he added five rebounds. He sank a pair of three-point goals.

Workhorse sophomore post Gossman contributed 12 points and a dozen big rebounds. 

Ada freshman point guard Kolton Dysert chipped in with 12 points and two triples.

Preston Stumpp, a 6-3 junior for C-R, led all players with 22 points. No other Hornet hit double figures, and only four Cory players scored.

The purple and gold connected on 15 two-point goals and drilled four triples.

Ada converted 11 of 17 shots at the charity stripe (65 percent). 

Like the Bulldogs, C-R also canned 15 two-pointers but made just one trey. The host Hornets converted seven of 10 from the free throw line (70 percent).

Ada dominated the two-quarter JV game 35-8 to improve to 5-2.    

Ada 53 (1-6)

Oldfield 0 0-0 0, Zimmerman 4 4-8 14, Hickman 2 0-0 4, Conley 0 1-1 3, Dysert 4 2-2 12, Green 2 0-0 4, Blankenship 0 0-0 0, Gossard 1 2-2 4, House 0 0-0 0, Lawrence 0 0-0 0, Gossman 5 2-4 12. 

Totals: 15-4/11-17/53. 3-pointers: Zimmerman 2, Dysert 2,    

C-R 40 (2-4)

Stumpp 8 6-8 22, Boehm 4 1-2 9, Garmatter 2 0-0 4, Reese 2 0-0 5.

Totals: 15-1/7-10/40. 3-pointers:  Reese 1.

1 2 3 4 F

Ada 7 10 14 22 53

C-R 6 6 11 17 40

2-quarter JV: Ada 35. C-R 8.

Ada (1-1 road) visits winless Waynesfield-Goshen (0-6) Thursday evening, December 28.

The non-league contest is the nightcap of a girls/boys doubleheader. The W-G boys lost 91-57 at Kenton Friday night. The Tigers have a new head coach this season in former Allen East mentor Brad Clum.