ADA — Jefferson’s boys basketball team had the tempo the way they wanted in the first half versus Ada, only trailing 30-25 at the half.

The third period didn’t go as well, with the Bulldogs outscoring the Wildcats 15-5 and going on to a 52-36 Northwest Conference victory at The Kennel.

“We just didn’t hit enough shots in the third quarter to stay within striking distance. Our whole desire was to stay close until the fourth and give ourselves a chance to win,” Jefferson coach Marc Smith explained.

The victory finishes Ada’s regular mark at 17-2, 9-0 in the NWC.

The Wildcats had slowed down the high-flying Bulldogs and hoped to do the same to begin the third. They couldn’t find the range against Ada’s man-to-man defense, missing their first six shots (13-of-37 for the night, 3-of-8 treys, for 35.1%) and turning it over five times (18 total). In that span, Smith used two timeouts as the Bulldogs built a 42-25 lead. Michael Wiltsie (4 boards) drained a triple at 2:02 to break the drought for the Red and Black and Bubba Shivley added a basket with just 7.8 ticks left but Ada’s Zac Dysert (16 markers, 6 boards, 4 assists) dropped two singles with .4 showing for a 45-30 lead.

“We withstood one run Ada had in the first half. We told the kids at the half that we expected another one,” Smith said. “We figured they would step up the defensive intensity and they did. I thought we handled the pressure well enough; we just couldn’t hit shots. We have to run our sets; I thought our shot selection the first three minutes of the third was poor.”

With Jefferson sitting back in its 1-2-2 zone — as they had done for all but the first 2:09 of the game — in the fourth, Ada started taking more time but didn’t take the air out of the ball. Neither could the Wildcats make a serious charge due to poor shooting (2-of-7). Smith emptied his bench as the game neared the final buzzer.

Jefferson (10-10, 3-6 NWC) handled Ada’s full-court diamond press in the first period and had their best shooting period — 5-of-9, with Jordan Jettinghoff (11 markers) and Michael Rahrig (9, 4 boards) scoring five each. Dysert scored the first six for the Bulldogs (8 in the canto) against Jefferson’s man-to-man. The change to the zone after a Smith stoppage did the trick for the guests. When Jettinghoff dropped a trifecta from the left wing with 8.1 ticks showing, Delphos led 14-10.

Ada got rolling in its half-court set in period 2, dropping in 8-of-12 shots (19-of-38 total, 4-of-12 from 3-land, for 50%), with Aaron Cross (11 markers, 6 blocks) scoring seven and Kyle Baker (11 markers, 4 assists) a pair of treys. They took the lead for good on his second trey with 6:30 showing and their lead rose to eight twice later on. Matt Antalis downed a lefty jump hook with 7.1 ticks to go to get the Jeffcats within 30-25.

“I told the kids how proud I am of the effort against a very good basketball team, one of the best in northwest Ohio. We came over here two years ago and they beat us by 40 with virtually the same team; I believe they have improved but so have we,” Smith added. “We’ve won 10 games this year, a 4-game improvement from last year. Now we can turn our attention to Crestview Wednesday (game 2 at Van Wert’s Division IV sectional). I think every coach in that sectional will tell you it’s wide open; we want to see if we can’t take advantage of that.”

Jefferson added 7-of-12 at the line (58.3%); grabbed 26 caroms (15 offensive); and totaled 11 fouls.

Ada downed 10-of-12 singles (83.3%); nabbed 17 off the glass (5 offensive); and added 16 fouls and nine errors. Their next game is Friday when they face the Hardin Northern/Ridgemont winner at Bath.

Ada’s JVs ended at 15-4 (6-3 NWC) by holding on for a 45-41 win over Jefferson (11-9, 4-5).

Matt McBride netted 14 for the hosts and Jon Mills 11. Tyree DeWitt topped the ’Cats with 11.