The road to the state basketball tournament started last night for the ADM boys basketball team who opened up in winning fashion by using a strong second half to defeat the Harlan Cyclones 65-51 in opening round of district play.

It was an overall four quarter balanced game for the Tigers who actually started off the contest down at the end of one quarter 14-12. From there they finished off the first half strong acquiring 16 second quarter points while pitching in just two first half turnovers and 10 first half assists to lead at the half 28-22. ADM didn’t have a single individual hit double digit scoring heading into the intermission but they didn’t need to after shooting 5 of 12 from field goal range and almost matching that from beyond the arc connecting on 5 of 11 three point shots.

Just as they would the entire game, the ADM defense shut down Harlan inside the paint in the third quarter allowing just 9 points and the Tigers would take that momentum into the fourth quarter up 41-31. What really helped ADM to seal the win was the 24 point fourth quarter, where ADM did not have to unleash their perimeter game very often, in fact, not at all connecting on all 24 points from within the tree point arc.

The big theme of the game for ADM was on the defensive side of the ball where they successfully forced Harlan outside the paint with just over 10 first half possessions inside the paint and only 6 connections from field goal range. That translated into the second half where the Tigers practically forced the Cyclones out of the paint for the final two quarters.

For just the second time all season, the Tigers were led by four individuals enjoying a double digit scoring night. The individual to take the cake in scoring was Tajen Ross with 14 points followed by three 10 point performances from Sam McCartney, sophomore Kolby Hardcastle, and Cole Knoll who also snagged a team leading 7 rebounds. ADM now improves to 12-10 heading into Thursday while Harlan closes out there season all evened up at 11-11.

The win officially grants ADM a spot in the second round of the playoffs this Thursday where they will head back to Atlantic high school, this time taking on the Atlantic Trojans. You can hear that game on K107.9 FM beginning with pregame coverage at 6:45 and game tip off at 7:00 pm.