By Cort Reynolds
ADA - Paulding trailed upset-minded Ada 31-23 early in the third quarter during their Northwest Conference boys' basketball contest Friday night before their offense flipped the switch.

The visiting Panthers then ripped off a 12-0 spurt to take the lead for good. Paulding outscored Ada 43-18 over a 13-minute closing stretch of the second half to turn a close game into a deceptive 66-52 victory.

The purple and gold fell to 2-12 and 1-3 in the NWC with the defeat, while the Panthers improved to 5-7 and 3-2 in league play with the victory.

Senior post Connor Frazier led Ada with 18 points, 11 rebounds, two blocked shots and a pair of steals.

"We played hard, I am proud of how we played," said Ada head coach Dre White. "We are doing a lot of good things, but we are not very deep.

"Connor dominated the lane," he continued. "It was probably his best game of the year. But we gave up 43 points in the second half. They scored 23 in the third period, which is what we held them to total in the first half."

Ada raced to a strong start, leading 12-2 after Frazier canned a spinning post-up shot at the 3:40 mark. Paulding woke up behind a fullcourt press and reeled off nine unanswered points to inch within a point.

Tenacious Bulldog sophomore guard Zac Swaney then stole the ball and drew a foul, making both free throws to quell the momentum and end the period with Ada holding a 14-11 advantage.

Panther senior guard Bailey Manz and Frazier traded putback layins to start the second stanza. The visitors then tied it 16-16 on a right wing triple from Fletcher Cook with 5:25 to go in the half.

Paulding took its first lead when Blake McGarvey drained a left baseline 14-footer, followed by a steal and layup from Jaret Miller.

Frazier canned a layup and junior wing Phillip Coulson sank a  tough runner to tie it 20-all. Miller drove in to score, yet Ada senior Cade Mullins responded with a left-handed drive to knot the score again.

A leaning banker from Coulson and a driving Frazier layup gave Ada a 26-23 lead at intermssion as the Bulldogs ended the half on a 10-3 run.    

Mullins splashed a left corner trey to open the second half. Coulson sank a short fadeaway jumper to put the hosts ahead 31-23 with 6:36 remaining. But then the Paulding offense heated up.

Five different Panthers combined to score 10 points and put them ahead. Miller then followed in his own miss to cap the spurt and put the Panthers on top, 35-31.
Coulson sank a reverse layup in transition to stop the 12-0 flurry with three minutes left. But Paulding senior guard Carson Shull canned consecutive dagger trifectas sandwiched around a Mullins stickback.

Miller made a driving layin and Cook splashed a right wing trey to extend the lead to 46-35. A bank shot by Frazier with 10 seconds left in the quarter cut the deficit to 46-37 heading to the final stanza.

Paulding turned the game around with the 23-11 third period. "Their third quarter was huge," White admitted.

Frazier brought Ada back early in the fourth by hitting a putback. The 6-6 senior then converted a conventional three-point play on a spinning shot that bounced around and through the net.

Manz collided with Micah Cook and made a runner to put Paulding ahead 48-42 with 6:23 left to play. Cook came back and drained a high-arching right corner trey. Swaney split a pair at the charity stripe to edge the hosts within 48-46 with 4:55 remaining.

Panther Jacob Eblin then posted up and made a short bank shot to give the Panthers a little breathing room. Manz sank a baseline driving layup to restore the lead to six at the 3:57 juncture.

Swaney again made one of two at the line, but Cook nailed a big triple with 3:30 left. Cook then added a transition layup to make it 57-47.

Cook scored again inside off a nice diagonal pass that Manz zipped through the lane. Cook continued his hot streak by nailing four straight foul shots to cap a personal 11-point streak.

Mullins sank a left baseline shot at the 1:20 mark, but it was too little, too late as the deficit had ballooned to 14.

Sophomore guard Brandon Hull, who scored the game's first basket on a driving layup, made the last field goal when he drilled a triple from out top with eight seconds left to slice the final margin to 14.

"We have been pretty good defensively all year but it is hard to win when you give up 43 points in one half," noted White. "I thought their halfcourt zone defense slowed us down and gave us more trouble than their press did."

Sharpshooting 6-1 senior Cook led all scorers with 24 points. Classmate Miller netted 13 markers while Shull added 10. Mullins supported Frazier with a dozen points.

"Paulding is hard to guard; we knew Miller and Cook could fill it up," said White. "I thought we did a pretty decent job on Miller."

Ada connected on 18 of 33 two-point tries (55 percent) and sank three of 14 triples (21 percent) for solid 21 of 47 shooting overall (45 percent). The Bulldogs were successful on seven of 10 attempts at the charity stripe (70 percent).

Hot-shooting Paulding canned 24 of 41 field goal attempts (59 percent), including five of 10 treys (50 percent) and a red-hot 19 of 31 inside the arc (61 percent). The Panthers converted 13 of 17 free throws (76 percent).

The Panthers out-rebounded Ada, 26-22. Paulding committed 12 turnovers to 16 miscues by Ada.

Paulding also won the reserve contest, 50-20. Ty Miller led the Bulldog reserves with six points.    

Ada 52 (2-12, 1-3 NWC)
Mullins 5 1-1 12, Frazier 8 2-3 18, Hall 0, Coulson 4 0-0 8, Hull 2 0-0 5, Swaney 1 4-6 6, Cook 1 0-0 3.
Totals: 21-47/7-10/52. 3-pointers (3-14): Mullins 1, Hull 1, Cook 1.

Paulding 66 (5-7, 3-2 NWC)
McGarvey 2 0-0 4, Shull 3 2-2 10, Manz 4 1-3 9, Eblin 1 2-2 4, Kesler 1 0-1 2, Miller 5 3-3 13, Cook 8 5-6 24.
Totals: 24-41/13-17/66. 3-pointers (5-10): Cook 3, Shull 2.    

    1    2    3    4    F
Ada    14    12    11    15    52    
Pau    11    12    23    20    66
JV: Paulding 50, Ada 20.

Ada hosts tough Hardin County rival Kenton (9-4) Saturday night. The Wildcats (4-2 road) lost at Van Wert 56-34 Friday to drop to 1-4 in WBL play.

"Kenton is very similar to Paulding, they shoot a lot of three's," said White. "Sharp is averaging almost 25 a game. They are very well-coached and well-prepared. I am excited for Saturday night."