SPENCERVILLE-It came down to the little things on Tuesday night, when the Spencerville Bearcats hosted the St. Marys Roughriders. The Bearcats got clutch free-throws from Evan Osting to lead the final quarter comeback in the 57-54 victory.
“Our game plan was to pressure,” said Spencerville head coach Kevin Sensabaugh. “We wanted to pressure their guards, as we knew we had some pretty athletic guards that are pretty good defensively, to wear them out.”
Spencerville came out on fire in the opening quarter, as the hosts went on a 8-0 scoring run following a 2-2 tie. Josh Henline hit two shots from downtown that forced a Roughrider timeout. The visitors responded with six straight points from Austin Parks, but a Tyler Koenig bucket extended the lead back to six, at 14-8. The quarter finished with a three-pointer from Nate Coulter, and the hot-scoring Bearcats led 19-10.
St. Marys had an answer in the second quarter, as they outscored the hosts 16-9. Dylan Smith scored the first basket in the quarter to extend the lead to 11, but the momentum started to change hands. The Bearcats had the lead at 10 points, at 26-16, but the visitors responded with a 10-0 scoring run, and Evan Angstman scored six of his 18 points in the period. Eli Harter had the final say of the quarter with a put back at the buzzer to lead 28-26 at halftime.
“The Parks kid is impossible to deal with, as he is 6’10” and jumps well and has good footwork,” said Sensabaugh. “I knew that we weren’t going to be able to stop him, and it was a matter of keeping the ball out of his hands.”
The Roughriders took their first lead of the game in the third quarter on a three-pointer by Kyle Steinger to take a 29-28 advantage. Spencerville later tied the game at 29 on a free-throw, but St. Marys came roaring back. The visitors got on a quick 5-0 run to lead 34-29, but Dylan Smith answered with three straight points to get within two at 34-32. The lead grew to 40-32, but a three pointer from Blake Sommers drew the hosts within five at 40-35, and a Smith basket cut the deficit to three at 40-37.
It was a high scoring final quarter as the Bearcats went off for 20 points. St. Marys extended the lead to 45-37 on a three pointer, but a basket from Harter cut the deficit to six at 45-39. Henline’s connected three pointer cut the deficit to three at 45-42. Spencerville was able to tie the game at 47 on a three pointer by Evan Osting, followed by a basket from Smith to regain the lead at 49-47. The rest of the night belonged to Spencerville. St. Marys tied the game at 49 points a piece, but a basket by Smith gave Spencerville a 51-49 lead. The Bearcats were able to make clutch free throws down the stretch, including four of them from Osting, to hold off the Roughriders 57-54.
Spencerville improves to 7-1 on the season, and will be back in action on January 7th when they visit the Lincolnview Lancers.
“I have seen them on film twice, and it’s going to be at their place and every time you go there you know it’s going to be hard,” said Sensabaugh. “They are well-coached as Coach Hammons does a great job with them.”
St.Marys 10 – 16 – 16 – 12 – 54
Spencerville 19 – 9 – 9 – 20 – 57
St.Marys (54)
Austin Parks (22) Evan Angstman (18) Kyle Steininger (6) Jace Turner (5) Gavin Reinecke (3)
Spencerville (57)
Dylan Smith (16) Josh Henline (13) Evan Osting (7) Eli Harter (6) Blake Sommers (6) Carter Sudhoff (4) Nathan Coulter (3) Tyler Koenig (2)
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