By Cort Reynolds

Zimmerman scores 25

LEIPSIC__The visiting Ada High School boys basketball team raced to a big early lead and dominated Leipsic 71-37 in a Blanchard Valley Conference mismatch to end the regular season strong on Friday, February 20.

The Bulldogs jumped ahead 24-10 after the first period as senior Gavin Oldfield pumped in eight points. Blake Zoladz added seven markers.

Ada senior Zack Zimmerman poured in 14 of his game-high 25 points in the first half. For the game, he sank four triples and 10 field goals. Zimmerman tallied nine points in the second quarter as Ada ballooned their lead to 42-16 at halftime.

He continued hot in the third period with two treys and eight points to help stretch the Bulldog margin to 56-29 heading into the final stanza. Seven Ada players scored in the fourth quarter, which they won 15-8.

Ada improved to 15-7 overall and finished 6-4 in the BVC (fifth) with the lopsided road victory. The 15 wins are one more than the 14 the Bulldogs posted last year.

Leipsic dropped to 4-18 overall and ended up 1-9 in BVC play after the loss.

“We got off to a quick start,” said Ada veteran head coach Chris Sautter. “We were able to pressure them, turn them over and get some easy points in transition.

”We also did a great job of crashing the offensive glass,” he noted. “We finished with 16 offensive rebounds, and scored 20 points off them.”

Slashing wing Oldfield tallied a season-high 14 points. Junior guard Zoladz netted 11 markers.

Kash Walther led Leipsic with eight points. Tyson Beckman netted seven markers, while Grady Bryan and Calvin Miller added six apiece.

The Bulldogs connected on 27 two-point goals and drained five trifectas. Ada converted two of four free throws (50 percent).

Leipsic canned 16 deuces and made no treys. The Vikings sank five of eight foul shots (63 percent). The Bulldogs outscored Leipsic 15-0 from beyond the arc.

Van Buren won the rugged 11-team BVC title race at 10-0, followed by Arlington (9-1), Liberty-Benton (8-2), Arcadia (7-3) and Ada (6-4).

Streaking Ada enters tournament play on a three-game win streak, all blowouts by an average margin of 38.7 ppg.

“I am really proud of how the guys have finished the year, and happy for them that they were able to surpass last year’s win total,” Sautter summed up. “Hopefully, we can keep it going next Friday.”

UP NEXT

The Bulldogs play at fourth-seed Carey (13-9) in the first round of Div. VI tournament play at 6 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 27. 

The Blue Devils beat Buckeye Central 46-27 on Friday, and ended up 12-2 in the solid Northern Ten Conference. Carey also enters tourney play on a three-game win streak, and they have won 10 of their last 13 games. 

The Devils started out 2-5 but authored a seven-game win string in mid-season. That hot streak was followed by three straight double-digit defeats before Carey rebounded to end the campaign with three victories by an average of 17.8 ppg.

Ada has won six of its last eight contests.

Ada 71 (15-7, 6-4 BVC)
Oldfield 7 0-1 14, Zimmerman 10 1-1 25, Stauffer 2 0-0 4, Conley 1 0-0 2, Zoladz 5 0-0 11, Allen 1 0-0 2, McKean 2 1-2 5, Henson 1 0-0 2, Baumgartner 1 0-0 2, Hickman 2 0-0 4. 

TOTALS: 27-5/2-4/71. 3-pointers: Zimmerman 4, Zoladz 1.

Leipsic 37 (4-18, 1-9 BVC)
Miller 3 0-0 6, Carrillo 1 0-0 2, Beckman 2 3-4 7, Walther 4 0-0 8, Lammers 2 0-2 4, Bryan 2 2-2 6, Eagleson 1 0-0 2, Garcia 1 0-0 2.

TOTALS: 16-0/5-8/37. 3-pointers: 0.