SPENCERVILLE-The Spencerville Bearcats came off an impressive offensive performance last week in their win over St.Henry. The Bearcats picked up right where they left off as they poured in 74 points to pick up the 74-47 victory.
“I thought our defensive intensity from the jump was pretty good,” said Spencerville head coach Kevin Sensabaugh. “I thought we got in the gaps really well and it made it really difficult for them to get good looks at the basket.”
Josh Henline and Dylan Cook put the Bearcats ahead early. Henline connected on a three pointer to give the Bearcats a 5-0 lead. Elida sophomore Zori Island was at the point of the Bulldog offense, but was frustrated by Spencerville defense as the host forced countless turnovers.
“I know Zori, he’s a great kid and Evan [Osting] really locked him down tonight,” said Henline. “Evan is going to take that challenge every week guarding the team’s best player.”
The shots continued to fall in the quarter as Henline hit a three pointer and Owen Sensabaugh made a couple of big threes, extending the lead to 20-6.
“Right away when I saw my teammates driving and kicking I knew that I was going to keep getting open shots and keep going and we looked very good,” said Henline.
Spencerville continued to strike as their lead grew. Henline scored the first five points in the second quarter to lead 25-6, but Elida answered with a pair of free throws from Seth Sharp and another from Island to make it 25-9. Sensabaugh still had his stroke from downtown as he buried a couple of threes, including one to beat the halftime buzzer to lead 41-19.
“We have some guys that can really shoot the basketball well and guys that share the ball,” said Sensabaugh. “Our guys have done a very good job of being unselfish and it’s fun when you play like that.”
Fouls were the story of the second half as Spencerville went into the penalty in the middle of the third quarter. 8 of Elida’s 15 third quarter points came from the charity strike, but the deficit continued to stay where it was. Henline and Smith were able to get some transition offense as both scored six points in the quarter to extend the lead to 58-34.
The hosts played their starters for most of the final quarter as they outscored Elida 16-13. Blake Sommers and Carter Sudhoff chipped in four points, while Osting and Smith had three points each as the Bearcats reached a season-high 74 points to move to 2-0 on the young season.
“I think that’s the difference between being good and being great,” said Sensabaugh about staying focused for four quarters. “We want to be a great team so we have to keep pushing and play to a standard.”
Spencerville improves to 2-0 and will be back in action on Saturday when they visit Fort Jennings.
Elida 6 – 13 – 15 – 13 – 47
Spencerville 20 – 21 – 17 – 16 – 74
Elida (47)
Zori Island (13) Seth Sharp (10) A’Mari Wash (6) David Etzkorn (5) Brice Engle (4) Jackson Covault (4) Tanner Roberts (3) Camden Howard (2)
Spencerville (74)
Josh Henline (26) Dylan Smith (16) Owen Sensabaugh (12) Blake Sommers (6) Evan Osting (5) Carter Sudhoff (4) Carder Orr (3) Dylan Cook (2)
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