By Cort Reynolds
ADA - Visiting Bluffton finished the game on a 17-5 run to avoid an upset bid by winless local rival Ada and pull out a 55-52 victory in the Northwest Conference boys basketball opener.

The Bulldogs led 47-38 with under six minutes remaining to play after junior Cayden Murphy followed up a miss inside for a basket. 

But then the Pirates began pounding the ball inside to reel off an 11-0 flurry and take a 49-47 lead.

Pirate post Kyler Kinn, a 6-3 junior, tallied eight interior points during the decisive run. His alley-oop layin cut the deficit to 47-44. Junior Nate Schaadt then tied it 47-47 on a putback three-point play with 2:55 left.

Sophomore Carson Soper then penetrated the Bulldog zone and zipped a pass through traffic to Kinn for a layup to cap the run and give the Pirates a 49-47 lead.

Ada tied it for the last time on a reverse layup by senior guard Jacob Poling with 2:22 to go. Pirate Trey Boblitt sank two key free throws to put the visitors back on top for good with 1:58 left. 

Ada then turned the ball over twice and missed the front end of a one and one free throw try. Soper converted two clutch free tosses to extend the lead to 53-49 with 22.3 seconds remaining.

Kinn then blocked a Bulldog putback try inside, but ulldog senior Cook ended up with the loose ball and swished a 22-footer from out top to inch Ada within 53-52 with 4.7 ticks to go.

Ada had a golden opportunity to go ahead when Bluffton was called for a rebound foul with 2.1 seconds after the Pirates missed the front end of a one and one free throw.

But the Bulldogs missed the front end and Bluffton grabbed the defensive rebound. With 1.6 ticks remaining, Pirate junior Trenton Donley splashed two foul shots to build the lead to 55-52.

Ada had no timeouts left and their in-bounds pass was picked off by Soper near halfcourt to end the upset bid.

The purple and gold dropped to 0-5 (0-1 NWC) with the difficult defeat, while the Pirates improved to 2-1 (1-0 NWC) with the comeback victory.

"I looked at the scoreboard when we were up 47-38 and thought we still had a long way to go," said Ada head coach Jon Cook. "There are dozens of things we can point to that went wrong in the loss, but we competed hard from tip to final horn.

"I thought we deserved to win but we didn't earn it the last five minutes," he added. "Shooting two for 12 from the foul line was horrendous."

Cook paced Ada with 16 points while Murphy worked his way inside for 15 markers. Poling added 10 points.

Kinn topped Bluffton with 16 points and Boblitt tallied a dozen. Donley and Soper each added nine markers.

"The first three quarters we had a hard time converting around the basket," said Pirate coach Todd Boblitt. "I thought the kids did a good job attacking the rim and playing through contact in the last quarter.

"We didn't shoot the ball well but continued to shoot three's," he pointed out. "Our strength is normally scoring on the perimeter, but we struggled defending around the basket.

"But I am proud of the guys for hanging in there; we have a really young group that stuck with it. We fought through adversity and some health issues," he added.

The Bulldogs took an 8-2 lead early when the speedy Poling sank three consecutive layups. Bluffton answered with an 11-1 run to take a 13-9 advantage.

Boblitt and Soper each splashed a trifecta and Schaadt converted a steal and layup to finish the spurt. Cayden Murphy scored inside to get Ada within 13-11 after the opening stanza.

Murphy then tied it with a spinning post move to start the second period. Tristan Conley knotted it again with a reverse layin. Soper canned a basket but Trent Ennis tied it 17-all with a transition layup off a steal and assist by Cook.

Boblitt put the Pirates ahead with a triple, yet Conley tied it once again by baning in a trey with five minutes left in the half.

Kinn put the Pirates up three with a layup stickback. Conley converted a nice spinning post layup, and Murphy knocked down an eight-footer in the lane to give Ada 24-23 lead at intermission.

The teams continued to trade the lead early in the seocnd half. Kinn sank a putback inside, followed by a southpaw layin from Cook.

Boblitt canned two foul shots yet Murphy sank a layup at the six-minute mark for a 28-27 edge.

A lane jumper by Donley put the Pirates back in front. Murohy answered with a power layup, and Kinn split two foul shots ot tie 30-30.

Poling drained a foul line jumper in the middle of the Pirate zone, yet Donley drained a left wing triple for a 33-32 lead at the 2:18 mark.

Cook then drilled consecutive triples from the right corner, sandwiched around a Kinn layup, to put Ada ahead 38-35.

Ennis was then fouled shooting a left corner trey but missed all three free throws. Cook then split two free tosses on a Pirate technical for arguing the foul call to give him nine points in the period.

"We had a chance to score seven or eight points in that possession, and we only came away with one," Cook lamented. "Going one for five from the line there and not scoring on the ensuing possession hurt."

Thus Ada led 39-35 heading to the final stanza.

Cook sank a left-handed backdoor layup 10 seconds into the fourth quarter. Cook then banked in a left wing 17-footer to build the margin to 43-35 with 7:16 remaining.

Kinn made a free throw, but Murphy tallied inside off a nice pass from Spencer Wall. Schaadt drove through the defense for a layup to cut the deficit to 45-38 with 5:55 left.

Murphy then laid in a putback off his own miss to give Ada a 47-38 cushion with 5:34 left to play. 

Kinn started the 11-0 Pirate run with a hanging three-point drive with 5:03 to go. He then hit a foul shot and the alley-oop to cut it to 47-44 Schaadt's three-point play tied it. Kinn's layup capped the spurt.

Buffton then outscored Ada 6-3 in the final minutes to cap their 17-5 closing run. They out-pointed the Bulldogs 20-13 in the decisive fourth quarter.

"They missed a key key layups and made a couple of turnovers down the stretch," Boblitt noted. 

"This one is going to sting for a little bit," said Cook. "Bluffton has been good late in their games, and with our lack of experience we haven't. We had a ton of positives for our team out of this game tonight."

The Bulldogs connected on more field goals than Bluffton, 23-18. The Bulldogs including canned four shors from three-point territory and hit 19 shots from two-point range. 

Ada canned just two of 12 attempts from the charity stripe (17 percent).

The Pirates canned 14 baskets inside the arc and hit on four shots from three-point territory. They converted 15 of 23 free throws (65 percent) to outscore the Bulldogs by 13 points from the charity stripe.      

Bluffton committed 13 turnovers compared to 10 miscues by the Bulldogs. 

Ada lost the junior varsity contest 57-29 to fall to 2-2. Wade Ginther led the Pirate reserves with 17 points while Jaden Coonfare added 10 markers.

Carter Conley topped Ada with seven points. Grant Preston and Ashton Cowan each added six.

Ada 52 (0-5, 0-1 NWC)
C. Murphy 7 1-4 15, Cook 6 1-3 16, Wall 0, Ennis 2 0-3 4, T. Conley 3 0-1 7, Poling 5 0-1 10, C. Conley 0, Thompson 0.
Totals: 19-4/2-12/52. 3-pointers: Cook 3.

Bluffton 55 (2-1, 1-0 NWC)
Donley 3 2-2 9, Kinn 6 4-7 16, Boblitt 3 4-5 12, Schaadt 4 1-2 9, Soper 2 4-7 9.
Totals: 14-4/15-23/55. 3-pointers: Boblitt 2, Donley 1, Soper 1.
 
    1    2    3    4    F
Ada    11    13    15    13    52
Bluf    13    10    12    20    55
JV: Bluffton 57, Ada 29. 

The Pirate away game at McComb Saturday was postponed due to virus issues.