SPENCERVILLE-The Spencerville Bearcats looked to extend their five game winning streak on Saturday night when they hosted the Arlington Red Devils. Spencerville held the visitors to 13 second half points to pick up the 66-44 victory.
Arlington came out of the game on fire as it was raining three’s inside the walk-in closet. Jake Vermillion had 9 points in the quarter on three pointers as the team had five in the quarter. The Bearcats were able to hang around in the quarter as five points came from Carder Orr.
Orr continued to have a presence in the second quarter as the high scoring affair continued. Spencerville got three straight points from Orr to get within 19-18 before a basket from Carter Sudhoff gave the Bearcats their first lead at 20-19. The lead extended to four on a three pointer from Evan Osting before Arlington answered with a pair of three pointers to lead 25-23.
Arlington was able to get to the free throw line to lead 31-27 before a late three pointer by Owen Sensabaugh cut the lead to 31-30 at halftime.
“We didn’t make a whole lot of X’s and O’s adjustments it was just I felt like we were defending with a whole lot of energy like we can,” explained Spencerville head coach Kevin Sensabaugh. “Offensively we weren’t pushing the tempo like we could and in the second half we just did like we always do which is get after it defensively and push the tempo on offense as fast as we could.”
The third quarter belonged to the Bearcats as the lead changed hands quickly. A pair of free throws from Dylan Smith regained the Spencerville lead to 32-31 and a basket from Blake Sommers extended the lead to 34-31. Arlington was able to tie the game at 34 before Spencerville went on a gut-wrenching 12-0 scoring run.
A basket by Sudhoff gave them a 36-34 lead before three pointers from Josh Henline and Sensabaugh gave them a 42-34 lead. Orr continued his masterful night with a basket and a bucket in the paint by Sudhoff extended it to 46-34.
“In the third quarter I thought we played as good of basketball as we have played all year,” said Sensabaugh. “We are better when we defend and when we defend we are pretty good.”
The veteran Bearcats were able to put the game on ice in the final quarter to pick up the victory. A three pointer from Henline extended the lead to 53-36 and a bucket from Henline made it 55-36. Henline added another three pointer to add to his 14 point but a basket by Orr gave him a career high 17 to move Spencerville to 12-1 for the second consecutive season.
“He’s really good,” Sensabaugh said of the rising sophomore Orr. “He’s a good basketball player and he’s gonna be a really good player as he gets older and he’s gaining confidence and he made some nice plays and was a stud tonight.”
Spencerville will return to NWC action next Friday when they visit Columbus Grove.
“We are going to get back to work this week as I feel like there are some things that we can get better at that we didn’t do well this weekend,” concluded Sensabaugh. “We are looking forward to get back into league play with a league road game against Columbus Grove and it’s not going to be easy but it will be fun.”
Arlington 19 – 12 – 5 – 8 – 44
Spencerville 14 – 16 – 20 – 16 – 66
Arlington (44)
Jake Vermillion (16) Brady Kin (9) Caden Russell (8) Rylar Essinger (6) Mason Cavinee (5)
Spencerville (66)
Carder Orr (17) Josh Henline (14) Dylan Smith (11) Carter Sudhoff (10) Owen Sensabaugh (6) Evan Osting (3) Dylan Cook (3) Blake Sommers (2)
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