By Cort Reynolds

WAPAKONETA__The Ada High School boys basketball team had its season ended by top-ranked power Marion Local 52-23 in Div. VI district final play on Friday, March 6 at Wapakoneta.

The fifth-seeded Bulldogs finished their strong season 17-8 with the defeat.

Ranked first in the state for Div. VI, ML improved to 23-1 after the convincing victory and advanced to the regional semifinals on March 7. 

“Their size and length were a factor at both ends of the floor,” said Ada head coach Chris Sautter, who completed his 16^th season at the helm of the Bulldog program. “They hurt us on the offensive glass and made it tough for us to score around the rim.

”The kids played their butts off,” he continued. “They have a lot to be proud of.”

Ada was riding a five-game win streak going into the district final showdown vs. ML, but the top-rated Flyers were too much to handle.  

Bulldog senior Kayleb Hickman sank an early shot to tie it 2-2, yet ML scored the next six points and never trailed.

Bulldog Zack Zimmerman halved the deficit by nailing a triple. Flyer guard Isaac Moeller answered right back with a trey to provide ML with an 11-5 lead after the first period.

Forward Kale Ahrens sank a one-handed shot, and 6-5 ML teammate Brennan Hess canned a stickback to surge ahead by 10 at 15-5. Zimmerman canned a tough drive, yet Mescher drilled a triple to make it 18-7. 

A left-wing trifecta by Moeller extended the Flyer lead to 14. Guard Brayden Mescher muscled his way in for a conventional three-point play and a 24-7 margin with 2:05 left in the half.

Bulldog junior Carson Conley responded with a basket of his own inside. Hickman stole the ball and Zimmerman scored. Mescher sank a driving basket. 

Zimmerman canned a driving basket just before the halftime horn to cut the ML deficit to 26-13 at intermission. The bigger Flyers pulled down seven offensive rebounds in the first half.

Mescher muscled in his own miss to open the second half. Hickman blocked a shot by Ahrens out of bounds, but Mescher answered with another basket to stretch the lead to 30-13.

Conley split two foul shots and Blake Zoladz blocked a Flyer shot. Ahrens sank an alley-oop layin off Mescher’s in-bounds pass for a 32-14 lead. A short left baseline shot by Zimmerman was followed by an Ahrens inside basket off a Mescher bounce pass.

Luke Everman banked in a right side trey to push the margin to 37-16 with 2:30 left in the third period. Grant Kremer then buried a trifecta for a 24-point cushion. Neither team scored over the final minute of the quarter.

A 14-3 Flyer stanza extended their lead to a commanding 40-16. ML netted the first basket of the fourth quarter to stretch their run to 9-0.

Zimmerman netted a right baseline pull-up shot to stop the spurt and reach 1,000 points exactly for his career at the 5:55 mark.

Everman scored inside off a nice pass from Hess. Ahrens missed two foul shots, but ML rebounded and Mescher dunked it in with 3:03 remaining. Oliver Huelsman laid in a breakaway 20 ticks later for a 48-18 margin.

After another Flyer basket, Hickman canned a left-handed scoop and foul shot to make it 50-21. ML reserve Marcus Schwieterman sank his second straight layup.

Ada junior Andrew Allen tossed in a scoop shot to finish the scoring. 

ML out-pointed the Bulldogs 26-10 in the second half. The Flyers are seeking a return to the state finals, where they lost last season to Monroe Central. Their only loss this season was to undefeated MAC rival Delphos St. John’s, the number one ranked team in Div. VII. 

Zimmerman led Ada with 13 points. Hickman netted five points and Conley added three.

Balanced ML was led by Mescher with 13 points. Ahrens tallied 10 markers. Hess, Moeller and Kremer netted six apiece.

It was the last game for seniors Zimmerman, Hickman and Gavin Oldfield.

“The seniors left the program in a way better place than it was their freshman year,” said Sautter. “I couldn’t be prouder of them.”

The 17 victories are the most by Ada in a season since 2009. 

The Bulldogs connected on nine two-point goals and drained only one trifecta. Ada converted just two of seven free throws (29 percent).

ML canned 18 deuces and knocked down five treys. The Flyers sank only one of five foul shots (20 percent), but appear destined for a return trip to the state tournament.    

“Marion Local is big, physical and well-coached. They don’t beat themselves,” Sautter said.

Ada 23 (17-8)

Oldfield 0 0-2 0, A. Brown 0 0-0 0, Stauffer 0 0-0 0, Zoladz 0 0-0 0, Zimmerman 6 0-0 13, Conley 1 1-3 3, Allen 1 0-0 2, Henson 0 0-0 0, Griffith 0 0-0 0, McKean 0 0-0 0, Hickman 2 1-2 5. 

Totals: 9-1/2-7/23. 3-pointers: Zimmerman 1.

ML 52 (23-1)

Hess 3 0-0 6, Ahrens 5 0-4 10, Mescher 6 1-1 13, Moeller 2 0-0 6, Kremer 2 0-0 6, Everman 2 0-0 5, Huelsman 1 0-0 2, Schwieterman 2 0-0 4.

Totals: 18-5/1-5/52. 3-pointers: Moeller 2, Kremer 2, Everman 1.