PHOTOS by Mark Andreasen / CLICK gallery to enlarge

By Cort Reynolds

ADA__Accurate long-range shooting helped the Ada High School boys basketball team throttle visiting Perry 74-25 in a non-conference mismatch on Tuesday, February 17.

The Bulldogs pumped in a season-best 13 three-point goals in the home finale to blow out the Commodores. Four purple and gold players tallied double figures to pace the blowout.

Ada senior Zack Zimmerman led all scorers with 18 points as he drilled four triples. Bulldog senior Kayleb Hickman fired in five trifectas to account for 15 of his 17 markers.

Ada jumped out to a commanding 24-8 lead after the first quarter behind four Hickman three-pointers. Zimmerman took over in the second period and poured in 13 points with three treys.

The Bulldogs held Perry to two baskets in a 23-6 second stanza that ballooned the cushion to 47-14 at halftime.

Ada continued to dominate with a 17-5 third quarter that stretched their margin to 64-19 heading into the final period. The Bulldogs also won the fourth quarter, 10-6. 

Ada improved to 14-7 with the lopsided home win. 

Perry dropped to 3-18 after the decisive road loss. The Commodores had won three of their last five contests coming into Tuesday’s game after starting the season 0-15.

“We shot the ball really well from three, I think we were 13 for 27 from three tonight,” said Ada head coach Chris Sautter. “We did a lot of little things at both ends of the floor, rebounded the ball well and guarded well.

”We won the 50-50 balls, the kids ran the floor well and just really played hard, and played a solid 32 minutes of basketball,” he added.

Junior guard Blake Zoladz netted a season-high 15 points. Junior Carson Conley contributed 10 points and nailed a pair of treys.   

Amir Warner led Perry with 16 points. But the rest of the Commodore team mustered just nine points.

The Bulldogs connected on 15 two-point goals and splashed 13 trifectas. Ada converted five of seven free throws (71 percent).

Perry canned just eight deuces and one trey. The Commodores sank six of eight foul shots (75 percent), all by Warner. 

Ada (5-4 BVC) visits league foe Leipsic (4-17, 1-8 BVC) on Friday, Feb. 20 to end the regular season. 

The Vikings beat Cory-Rawson 63-59 Tuesday night to snap a five-game losing streak. Leipsic has dropped eight of its last 10 games after starting the season 0-8. 

Ada plays at fourth seed Carey (11-9) in the first round of Div. VI tournament play at 6 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 27. The Blue Devils beat Mohawk 47-40 on Tuesday.

Ada 74 (14-7)

Oldfield 2 0-0 4, Zimmerman 7 0-0 18, Stauffer 1 0-0 2, Conley 3 2-2 10, Zoladz 6 3-5 15, Allen 2 0-0 5, McKean 1 0-0 3, Hickman 6 0-0 17. 

TOTALS: 15-13/5-7/74. 3-pointers: Hickman 5, Zimmerman 4, Conley 2, McKean 1, Allen 1.

Perry 25 (3-18)

Warner 5 6-8 16, Richardson 1 0-0 3, Dukes-Tisdale 1 0-0 2, Scott 1 0-0 2, Sevitz 1 0-0 2.

TOTALS: 8-1/6-8/25. 3-pointer: Richardson 1.     

JV: Ada 55, Perry 44.