SPENCERVILLE-Spencerville looked to grab their first NWC victory as they hosted the Leipsic Vikings on Friday night. The Bearcats used their high octane energy and tenacity as they powered past Leipsic 71-47.
“This is the first time that we have been able to play like this all season and it was a lot of fun to watch the energy and effort,” said Spencerville head coach Kevin Sensabaugh. “It was the extra passes, as I thought our guys played the right way all night long.”
It was a tale of two quarters, as both teams looked to gain momentum in the contest. Spencerville came out with a quick eight point scoring run, starting with a bucket by Eli Harter and a basket by Tyler Koenig to give them an 8-0 advantage. Leipsic responded with their own scoring run to knot the game at eight points per side. The rest of the points belonged to the hosts, as Dylan Smith scored seven straight points, including a triple, and a buzzer beater by Harter gave Spencerville a 17-8 advantage.
It was a competitive second quarter as the teams traded points. A three pointer by Evan Osting grew the Bearcat lead to a dozen, at 20-8, but Leipsic responded with a basket by Mason Brandt to cut the lead back to 10, at 20-10. Leipsic got as close as 22-18 as the Vikings worked their way to the charity strike in an attempt to close the deficit. Brandt hit a two pointer to cut the lead to two, at 29-27, but a three pointer by Osting and a basket from Smith got the lead back up to seven, at 34-27.
“Mason Brandt is a great player and Tyler Koenig made him earn every point he got tonight,” said Sensabaugh. “We did a lot of good things defensively and we were locked in as a team tonight.”
The third quarter was a defensive slugfest and points were hard to come by. A basket by Dylan Cook and Harter grew the lead to double digits at 38-27. Leipsic cut the deficit to eight, at 38-30, on a three pointer by Paul Maag. A basket by Brandt got them as close as 38-32, before the hosts went on a scoring run. The Bearcats went on a 9-0 scoring run, and four different players reached the quarter scoring column. The back-breaking score came from Freshman Blake Sommers as his three pointer had the host up 47-32.
Spencerville’s best scoring came in the fourth quarter as they scored an impressive 24 points to put the game out of reach. Back-to back buckets by Sommers and Harter gave the hosts a 53-34 advantage, and they were far from done. Sommers continued to hit nothing but net, as he knocked down a three pointer and a basket to put the Spencerville bench on their feet. The hosts continued the great night with a seven point quarter from Tyler Koenig, and the Bearcats moved to 5-1 on the season with a 71-47 victory. Spencerville had four players in double figures on the evening.
Spencerville will be back in action on Saturday when they host the Kalida Wildcats with the Junior Varsity tip set for 5pm.
“Every game that you play is a proving ground,” said Sensabaugh. “Tonight we proved that we can be a pretty good basketball team and I want to make sure we continue to go in the right direction before we hit the stretch of our season.”
Leipsic 8 – 19 – 5 – 15 – 47
Spencerville 17 – 17 – 13 – 24 – 71
Leipsic (47)
Mason Brandt (23) Paul Maag (11) Estevan Carillo (7) Quin Schroeder (2) Trent Siefker (2) Fabian Pena (2)
Spencerville (71)
Dylan Smith (15) Tyler Koenig (13) Eli Harter (12) Blake Sommers (10) Josh Henline (6) Evan Osting (6) Carter Sudhoff (4) Nathan Coulter (3) Dylan Cook (2)
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