MILLER CITY-It was going to be easy on Friday night at Miller City high school as the Spencerville Bearcats faced NWC foe Columbus Grove for the Sectional championship. The Bearcats used a strong third quarter to pull away for a 66-47 victory.
“The first half I thought we played a little bit tight,” said Spencerville head coach Kevin Sensabaugh. “That’s pretty normal and natural for the first tournament game as everyone wants to play well, everyone wants to shoot well and wants to win so I guess our guys were a little too amped up for this.”
Spencerville and Columbus Grove both attacked the paint in the opening quarter as shots from outside the paint were hard to come by. The Bearcats had the duo of Josh Henline and Dylan Smith as they scored all of the quarter points for the home team.
The Bulldogs slowed the game down and kept themselves in it with four points coming from Trenton Barraza as it was the Bearcats who led 13-11 after 8:00 minutes of action.
Spencerville applied the pressure in the second quarter with pesky defense and second chance opportunities but the visitors continued to battle. Tadd Koch had things going down low as he tallied six points in the quarter to keep the visitors close in the half.
However, the bench points from Evan Osting kept the home team afloat as he buried a pair of three pointers to give Spencerville a 26-23 halftime lead.
“Evan has had a great week of practice,” said Sensabaugh. “I kind of felt that coming but he was good tonight and our coaches kind of made the comment that he’s playing the best basketball that he’s played this season.”
The Bearcats found their groove in the second half as shots started to fall from inside and out. A basket by Smith gave the hosts their biggest lead of the night at 28-23 but the lead continued to grow. Baskets by Henline and Carder Orr made it 32-25 before a bucket by Carter Sudhoff made it 34-25.
The lead grew to double digits on a basket by Smith and he continued to work as he tallied two more baskets in the quarter before a dagger three pointer by Owen Sensabaugh to make it 51-29.
The Bulldogs outscored the Bearcats in the final quarter but the lead didn’t get under double digits. Spencerville was able to get deep into their reserves as Michael Woods and Brody Sommers scored four points each as Spencerville won their second straight Sectional championship.
Spencerville improves to 20-2 on the season and will advance to the Lima Senior district tournament on Wednesday, where they will battle the fourth seed Liberty Benton Eagles. The Eagles pulled out a nail bitter as they defeated Carey 38-37 to win their half of the Sectional.
“It’s going to be a good game against either team,” Sensabaugh concluded. “These teams played each other early in the year and Liberty Benton beat them pretty well and I’d say they’re probably the favorite but I’m excited to watch it.”
Columbus Grove 11 – 12 – 6 – 18 – 47
Spencerville 13 – 13 – 25 – 15 – 66
Columbus Grove (47)
Trenton Barraza (14) Evan Sautter (7) Landon Best (7) Kylan Mayes (6) Tadd Koch (6) Zach Reynolds (5) Bo Birnesser (2)
Spencerville (66)
Dylan Smith (19) Josh Henline (13) Evan Osting (11) Carter Sudhoff (8) Brody Sommers (4) Carder Orr (4) Michael Woods (4) Owen Sensabaugh (3)
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