Stay tuned for photo coverage by Mark Andreasen

By Cort Reynolds

CLEVELAND__The Ada High School boys basketball team withstood a late rally to edge Blanchard Valley Conference foe McComb 56-54 at Rocket Arena in Cleveland on Friday afternoon, January 23.

It was the second trip for the Bulldog boys to play at the home of the Cleveland Cavaliers. 

They played at the NBA venue, then known as Gund Arena, in coach Chris Sautter’s initial season as head Ada coach of 2002-03 during his first tenure, where they lost to county rival Kenton 48-44.

The Bulldogs held a slim 8-7 lead after the first quarter on Friday.

A 17-14 Ada second quarter put the purple and gold ahead 25-21 at halftime. The Bulldogs won the third quarter 19-14 to take a 44-35 lead into the final stanza.

McComb outscored Ada 19-12 down the final stretch as Luke Kern scored 11 of his game-high 31 points, but their late three-point barrage came up just short.

Ada improved to 11-5 overall with the neutral floor victory. The Bulldogs snapped a three-game league losing skid to improve to 4-3 in BVC play.

Struggling McComb fell to 4-11 overall and 0-6 in the BVC after the defeat.

“It was a great experience for the kids; we made an entire day of it,” said Ada head coach Chris Sautter of the trip. “Glad we weathered the storm in the fourth quarter when they got hot and hit four three’s.”

Kern fired in three trifectas in the fourth quarter to lead the Panther comeback that came up just short. He drained a triple with under five seconds left to cut the deficit to 56-54. 

But McComb had no timeouts left, and thus Ada was able to run out the clock and preserve the win without having to inbound the ball. 

Senior Zack Zimmerman topped the Bulldog with 18 points. Junior Carson Conley contributed 17 markers. Each took turns carrying the Bulldog offense in the middle periods of the game.

Zimmerman pumped in 11 of the 17 Ada points in the second quarter.

Conley then netted 12 of the 19 Bulldog markers in the third stanza.

Ada senior Kayleb Hickman scored all seven of his points in the second half. Blake Zoladz added six markers.

In the final period, senior Gavin Oldfield scored four of his six points, while Hickman also made two big baskets.

Panther sharpshooter Luke Kern netted ten points in the second stanza, then scored eight in the third. He poured in 11 markers in the final period.

In all, Kern nailed 12 baskets, including four treys and three free throws. But no other Panther tallied more than seven points.

The Bulldogs connected on 21 two-point goals and nailed three trifectas. Ada converted five of 10 free throws (50 percent).

McComb canned 14 deuces and splashed seven treys, four by Kern. The Panthers sank five of nine foul shots (56 percent). 

The Bulldogs outscored the Panthers 36-28 over the middle quarters. The entire Ada program made the trip, taking the varsity, freshman, JV, and junior high teams, and all the coaches, to Cleveland.

UP NEXT
Ada plays at second-place BVC foe Arlington (13-3, 5-1 BVC) Friday, Jan. 30. The Red Devils routed the Bulldogs last year at Ohio Northern University as graduated Jase Vermillion poured in 29 points. Arlington is led by 6-10 senior center Calvin Willow.

The Devils thrashed Pandora-Gilboa (4-2 BVC) on the road in a second-place battle Friday, 58-30.

Ada 56 (11-5, 4-3 BVC)

Oldfield 3 0-0 6, Zimmerman 7 2-3 18, Conley 7 3-7 17, Allen 1 0-0 2, Griffith 0, Zoladz 3 0-0 6, Hickman 3 0-0 7. 

TOTALS: 21-3/5-10/56. 3-pointers: Zimmerman 2, Hickman 1.

McComb 54 (4-11, 0-6 BVC)

Stackler 1 1-2 3, Kern 12 3-5 31, Gonzalez 3 1-2 7, Schroeder 1 0-0 3, Hendren 1 0-0 3, Halker 2 0-0 5, Amadon 1 0-0 2.

TOTALS: 14-7/5-9/54. 3-pointers: Kern 4, Schroeder 1, Hendren 1, Halker 1.