SAINT MARYS-It was a battle on Tuesday night as the Spencerville Bearcats visited the St. Marys Roughriders. The Bearcats got stops down the stretch and made key free throws to secure a 65-61 victory.
“We have a couple of senior guards that know what they are doing down the stretch,” said Spencerville head coach Kevin Sensabaugh on guards Josh Henline and Dylan Smith. “I thought they played really well tonight on both ends of the floor.
Spencerville was off and running in the opening quarter and it paid dividends on the scoreboard. The teams traded points before the Bearcats started to pull away on a couple of scoring runs. A 7-0 scoring run that featured points from Henline, Carter Sudhoff, and Smith forced a Roughrider timeout.
Another basket by Henline and Smith stretched the lead to 13-3, but the Roughriders responded with a 7-0 scoring run to cut the lead to seven at 17-10. Following a Brayden Sullivan three pointer, Henline had the final say in the quarter with a three pointer at the buzzer to lead 20-13.
The “canal pals” traded points in the second quarter in the high scoring affair. St.Marys quickly drew within two on a basket by Austin Parks and a three point play from Evan Angstman, but a pair of foul shots from Henline stretched the lead to 22-18. Henline continued to get to the foul line, and he made four more shots from the charity stripe, allowing the Bearcats to lead 36-30 at halftime.
“This was a great preparation game for the tournament,” Sensabaugh said. “It was a great preparation for league play and that’s what it’s supposed to do and it was good to see how much our guys wanted to win.”
Parks, the Ohio State signee, led the Roughriders in the third quarter. St. Marys grabbed their first lead of the night on a pair of free throws from Cobain Owens.
Owen Sensabaugh drilled a three pointer to regain the Spencerville lead at 39-37. Parks’ three point play gave St. Marys the lead at 42-41, before a Henline basket gave the visitors a 43-42 lead. Parks tallied four shots the rest of the quarter and a late free throw from Smith tied the game at 48 per side.
Spencerville and St. Marys fought right down to the final minute in the fourth quarter. A quick steal and layup from Sensabaugh tied the game at 50 after a basket from Parks.
St. Marys scored five straight points on a basket from Sullivan and a three point play from Angstman to lead 55-50, before a pair of free throws from Carder Orr cut the deficit to three at 55-52. A basket by Smith cut it down to one at 55-54, and a later basket by Henline kept the deficit at one at 57-56.
A Smith three pointer tied the game at 59, and another basket from him gave them a 61-59 advantage. A free throw from Sensabaugh stretched the lead to 62-59, and the Bearcats got extra possessions on offensive rebounds and took advantage of it. A pair of free throws from Orr before a basket by Sullivan cut it to 64-61 with eight seconds left. A free throw from Smith sealed a Spencerville win at 65-61.
“We are going to get some rest and check on Evan [Osting] and hopefully get him healthy,” concluded Sensabaugh. “We are going to do some team building stuff and try to get better because the tough stretch of the season is coming.”
The Bearcats finished the 2022 portion of the schedule at 8-1 and will be back in action on January 6th when they host the Lincolnview Lancers.
Spencerville 20 – 16 – 12 – 17 – 65
St. Marys 13 – 17 – 18 – 13 – 61
Spencerville (65)
Josh Henline (22) Dylan Smith (20) Carder Orr (7) Owen Sensabaugh (6) Dylan Cook (4) Blake Sommers (4) Carter Sudhoff (2)
St. Marys (61)
Austin Parks (25) Brayden Sullivan (11) Jace Turner (10) Cobain Owens (7) Evan Angstman (6) Jaden Lotz (2)
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