By RYAN WALKER
MONROE — Southern Wells was just simply outplayed by a really good Adams Central team Wednesday night.
The Jets, now 10-1 and a perfect 4-0 in the ACAC, jolted to a lead in the first quarter and used it to top the Raiders (2-10, 0-4 ACAC) 72-38.
Led by 6’7” senior and Olivet Nazarene commit Isaac Schultz, Adams Central just finished back-to-back conference tournament titles and is seeking to do the same in the regular season.
They began the game by winning the tip and quickly lobbing an alley-oop dunk to Schultz to set the tone.
Southern Wells responded as well as it could. Andrew Aker scored the first on a putback, Perrin Gates with a bunny underneath and a CJ Reber triple, but the Jets’ scoring attack soared to a 24-11 at the end of the first quarter. Schultz produced 10 of the points on 4-4 shooting, helping his game-high 24 and eight rebounds.
“They are a tough matchup at every position,” Southern Wells head coach Joel Roush said after the game about Adams Central. “They’re quick, they’re strong. They have length, size and skill. All of that conglomerates into something that is very difficult to deal with. I was worried about us offensively, and their offense really gave us trouble.”
Even with a solid effort of 5-9 from the floor for the Raiders, it just wasn’t enough and did not carry into the second quarter.
Outside of Reber’s second three, the Raiders didn’t get much going until late in the period. Evan Pennington got one of his two buckets with under two minutes before the break, and Reber picked off an inbounds pass and scored right as the final buzzer sounded. By then, it was 44-18 in favor of the Jets.
Reber, who scored 12 points for the Raiders, perhaps had his best night of the season.
Roush explained that they’ve asked him to shoot the ball more, and he has this season. Wednesday night, he hit three mid-range or beyond jumpers and helped on defense once he tweaked a few things.
“CJ’s a good shooter,” Roush said. “The short corner area is a place where he was open and we encourage him when he’s open and he had a pretty good game. I would like for him to be a little more aware of his man when he’s off the ball defensively. But, once we got that corrected, I think he played one of his better games.”
Perrin Gates also had a nice night despite his matchup against Schultz, scoring a team-high 14 with five rebounds. Reber tallied six rebounds along with teammate Aker to lead the team.
Southern Wells will host Muncie Burris at 7:30 p.m. next Tuesday, Jan. 23.
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ADAMS CENTRAL 72, SOUTHERN WELLS 38
At Adams Central
SOUTHERN WELLS (2-10, 0-4 ACAC): Perrin Gates 6-10 2-3 14, CJ Reber 5-12 0-0 12, Evan Pennington 2-7 0-0 4, Landon Johnson 1-1 0-0 3, Chandler Oswalt 1-9 0-0 3, Andrew Aker 1-9 0-0 2, Caleb Johnson 0-1 0-0 0, Trey Slusher 0-0 0-0 0, Joshua Aulbach 0-0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 16-51 2-3 38.
ADAMS CENTRAL (10-1, 4-0 ACAC): Isaac Schultz 11-15 2-2 24, Trace Maller 8-14 0-0 16, Micah McClure 4-6 2-4 10, Braylend Reber 4-6 0-2 8, Max Hamilton 1-3 4-4 6, Ryan Tester 2-6 0-0 4, Kolton Littler 1-3 0-0 2, Cade Van De Weg 0-3 0-0 0, Marcus Bollenbacher 0-0 0-0 0, Drew Johnson 0-0 0-0 0, Lawson Deathe 0-0 0-0 0 TEAM 0-0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 30-58 8-12 72.
Southern Wells 11 7 8 12 –– 38
Adams Central 24 20 14 15 –– 72
Three-point FG: Southern Wells 4-21 (Reber 2-6, Oswalt 1-6, L. Johnson 1-1, Aker 0-4, Pennington 0-1, Gates 0-2), Adams Central 0-6 (Tester 0-2, Maller 0-2, Schultz 0-1, Littler 0-1). Rebounds: Southern Wells 21 (Reber 6, Aker 6, Gates 5, Oswalt 2, Aulbach 1, C. Johnson 1), Adams Central 36 (Schultz 8, Steele 6, Littler 6, Reber 6, Tester 3, Hamilton 2, Maller 2, Van De Weg 1, Bollenbacher 1, TEAM 1). Turnovers: Southern Wells 12, Adams Central 4. Fouls: Southern Wells 8, Adams Central 8. Fouled Out: None. Technicals: None.
JV: No game.
