ELIDA-Spencerville hit the road for the first time this season on Friday night as they visited the Elida Bulldogs. The Bearcats forced some turnovers and had timely scoring as they improved to 2-0 with their 52-41 victory.
“I thought we won the game inside tonight, which is good to have,” said Spencerville head coach Kevin Sensabaugh. “We knew that we were young, so we thought we could create some turnovers and we did,” continued Sensabaugh.
The Bearcats were able to build a lead in the first quarter thanks to good defense by the visitors. Elida’s only points in the quarter came from a three pointer by Seth Sharp. The rest of the quarter was all Spencerville as they finished it on a 6-0 scoring run. A basket by Carter Sudhoff gave them an 8-3 advantage, while a bucket by Josh Henline and another basket by Eli Harter gave them a 12-3 lead after one quarter of action.
The offense started to find its groove in the second quarter as the momentum picked up for both teams. Elida got as close as 12-6 on a three pointer by X’Zorian Island, but Dylan Smith came right back with one of his own to extend the lead to 15-6. Island continued to try to lead the comeback with five more points in the quarter, but Henline was able to knock down two shots from behind the arc and Spencerville enjoyed a 27-14 halftime lead.
The Bearcats and Bulldogs traded baskets throughout the third quarter. Island displayed more of his impressive night with two shots from downtown, including one to beat the buzzer, but the quarter belonged to Harter. Harter had 11 points in the quarter, most of which came down low in the post as he found himself one-on-one with Tori Thomas. He got the better of Thomas on multiple occasions, but his latest one with 26 seconds left in the quarter gave them a 44-32 lead.
Elida tried to put some pressure on the Bearcats in the final quarter, but the Bearcats were able to put the game on ice. The Bulldogs did create some turnovers, but only got as close as 10 as Harter sank some late free throws to seal the 52-41 win.
Spencerville improves to 2-0 on the season and will be back in action on Saturday when they host Fort Jennings.
“I told our guys after the game that we are going to need everyone because we will have our hands full with Fort Jennings,” concluded Sensabaugh.
Spencerville-12 – 15 – 17 – 8 – 52
Elida 3 – 11 – 18 – 9 – 41
Spencerville (52)
Eli Harter-18 Josh Henline-13 Dylan Smith-13 Carter Sudhoff-6 Tyler Koenig-2
Elida (41)
X’Zorian Island-15 Brendan Crow-8 Tori Thomas-6 Jackson Covault-5 Seth Sharp-3 Austin Miller-2 Brice Engle-2
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