By RICK SPRUNGER
MONROE — A big third quarter for Adams Central broke open a competitive game against Bluffton Friday night.
The Jets bested the Tigers, 69-43, after hanging 30 points on the scoreboard in that pivotal third period to Bluffton’s 11.
That widened a 30-23 halftime lead for Adams Central to 60-34 and allowed the Jets to coast home from there.
The win upped the Class 2A No. 10 Jets to 11-1 overall and a perfect 4-0 in the Allen County Athletic Conference.
Bluffton fell to 6-7 in all games and 2-2 in conference play.
Turnovers were the main culprit.
The Tigers committed 24 turnovers for the game, including a whopping seven in a span of 10 possessions in that third quarter when Adams Central outscored the beleaguered Bluffton squad, 20-2, to seize control of the game.
“It’s hard to win games with that many turnovers,” said Bluffton coach Craig Teagle after the game. “You’re giving up scoring opportunities for yourself and giving scoring opportunities to them at the same time. It’s a double-edged sword.”
Bluffton actually hit its first two shots of the third quarter on a bucket underneath by Kaleb Green and Axton Beste’s fourth three-pointer of the contest to keep the Tigers within striking distance at 35-28.
Then the roof caved in.
“We went on a run,” said Adams Central coach Aaron McClure. “One of our keys was to force the tempo. We did it by extending our defense a little farther out.”
Isaac Schultz, the Jets’ 6-7, 210-pound force inside, started the run with a baseline drive, and then the Adams Central defense went to work.
“Four turnovers in a row,” moaned Teagle.
Ryan Tester and Schultz wove steals around two Bluffton passes that sailed out of bounds, and the Jets ran away and hid.
Micah McClure converted a drive through the lane into a three-point play, Schultz turned back-to-back offensive rebounds into one of two free throws and a bucket underneath Braylend Reber got another three-point play off an offensive rebound, and Tester recovered a tipped pass by Reber and sailed in for a layup for a sudden 48-28 spread.
“They forced the tempo,” acknowledged Teagle, “but our main problem was poor decision-making. “We were not shot-faking, we were not coming to meet the ball, we were not jumping to catch passes.”
Kaleb Green finally stemmed the tide for Bluffton.
But McClure scored for Adams Central, then alertly tipped Bluffton’s inbounds pass off a Tiger player out of bounds and found Schultz inside with his own inbounds pass.
Braylend Reber followed with a fast break basket and Schultz with one of two free throws for a 55-30 score.
“They’re one of the best Class 2A teams in the state, and they are very well-coached,” summed up Teagle, tipping his hat to his opponent.
Bluffton stayed with its highly-touted visitors for most of the first half.
A 12-2 Adams Central run in the first quarter handed the Jets an 18-9 lead and seemed to get them off and running.
But Green turned a Cameron Williams steal into a three-point play with 0:03 left in the period to get the Tigers within 18-12 at the break.
Bluffton then started the third quarter with a rebound basket by Declan Grieser and consecutive three-pointers by Beste and Williams to complete an 11-0 run and put the Tigers on top, 20-18.
But Adams Central responded with a 9-0 surge of its own fueled by four Bluffton turnovers in five possessions and maintained that seven-point edge until running away with the game in the third quarter.
Bluffton finished 17-for-38 from the field for a .447 percentage.
Beste hit five three-pointers and finished with 15 points to lead the Tigers in scoring.
He was the only Bluffton player to reach double figures.
Schultz paced four players in double figures with 23 points for Adams Central, which connected on 26 of 53 shots for a .491 shooting percentage.
McClure added 14 points, Trace Maller 12, and Reber 10 for the Jets.
Bluffton won the junior varsity game, 54-38.
Nolan Lambert scored 14 points, Eli Bertsch 11, and Jared Moser 10 to lead the Tigers.
Griffin Morgan added eight points, Marshall Gerber six, and Benjamin Maggard five for Bluffton.
Bluffton also won the C-team game, 48-44, in triple overtime.
Maxwell White scored 32 points to lead the Tigers.
Jonah Geisel added seven points, Alexander Maggard three, and Abram Gehrett, Heath Johnson, and Samuel King two apiece.
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ADAMS CENTRAL 69, BLUFFTON 43
At Adams Central
BLUFFTON (6-7, 2-2 ACAC): Andrew Hunt 0-3 0-0 0, Cameron Williams 2-7 0-0 6, Tucker Jenkins 3-5 0-0 6, Axton Beste 5-9 0-0 15, Kaleb Green 4-5 1-1 9, Elijah Garrett 0-1 0-0 0, Declan Grieser 1-3 0-0 2, Hunter Wenger 1-3 0-0 2, Nolan Lambert 1-1 0-0 3, Benjamin Maggard 0-0 0-0 0, Jared Moser 0-1 0-0 0, Jude Baumgartner 0-0 0-2 0. TOTAL: 17-38 1-3 43.
ADAMS CENTRAL (11-1, 4-0 ACAC): Micah McClure 6-13 1-1 14, Ryan Tester 1-3 0-0 3, Trace Maller 5-10 0-0 12, Braylend Reber 3-6 3-3 10, Isaac Schultz 9-14 5-7 23, Kolton Littler 1-3 0-0 2, Carter Steele 0-1 0-0 0, Max Hamilton 1-2 3-3 5, Cade Van De Weg 0-1 0-0 0, Marcus Bollenbacher 0-0 0-0 0, Drew Johnson 0-0 0-0 0, Lawson Deathe 0-0 0-0 0, Jackson Roe 0-0 0-0 0. TOTAL: 26-53 12-14 69.
Bluffton 12 11 11 9 — 43
Adams Central 18 12 30 9 — 69
Three-point shooting: Bluffton 8-18 (Hunt 0-1, Williams 2-7, Jenkins 0-1, Beste 5-7, Garrett 0-1, Lambert 1-1); Adams Central 5-14 (McClure 1-2, Tester 1-2, Maller 2-4, Reber 1-3, Schultz 0-1, Littler 0-1, Hamilton 0-1). Rebounds: Bluffton 22 (Grieser 5), Adams Central 27 (Schultz 9). Turnovers: Bluffton 24, Adams Central 11. Personal fouls: Bluffton 11, Adams Central 7. Fouled out: Grieser. Technical fouls: None.
Junior Varsity: Bluffton 54, Adams Central 38.
Freshmen: Bluffton 48, Adams Central 44 (3OT).
