SPENCERVILLE — Spencerville boys basketball coach Kevin Sensabaugh is ready to get back into the swing of things.
Going into the holiday vacation, Spencerville garnered a non-conference win over St. Marys on Dec. 28 to up its record to 7-1 and now the Bearcats want to continue their winning ways as they enter the meat of the schedule beginning with a game against Northwest Conference foe Lincolnview Friday.
It has been five years since Spencerville has posted a winning record but this year’s squad seems to have found the winning formula. Since winning the NWC in 2017, Spencerville has gone 22- 71 and 7- 25 in the NWC.
Wining its first seven out of eight, the Bearcats have posted non-conference wins against Kalida, Leipsic and Ottoville and the team’s lone loss was a two-point loss to Crestview.
“It has been a few things,” Sensabaugh about why the Bearcats have had early season success. “Eli Harter’s back from injury and he is a very versatile player for us and we have three seniors that have played a lot of basketball for us and two juniors that have played a lot of basketball and so we have some experience and I think that is definitely part of it.
“Experience itself is irreplaceable and the experience you learn whether you are winning or losing and the on court experience is valuable to our guys but the best thing is now is that everybody is just appreciative of what is happening and we are appreciative of the spot that we are in because it has been four years since we have been in that spot. It has been a tough run but these guys are playing as hard as they can. They are playing unselfishly and I am proud of them.”
Sensabaugh said he is committed to playing 10 guys. That not only shows the team’s depth but also its versatility.
“We’ve committed to sticking to that and playing all 10 guys and getting them the proper amount of minutes we think that they deserve and we are going to keep doing that.”
Sensabaugh added that there has not necessarily a change in the team’s culture but more of a refinement that he said has been lacking in the last few years.
“We tell our guys all the time ‘It’s hard to win.’” Sensabaugh said. “Winning is hard because if it were easy everyone would do it all the time. Number one, our guys have enough experience and the talent that we are capable of winning some games and, number two, our guys have really bought into playing the right way. They play as hard as they can play. We defend our hardest and we are not perfect and try to share the ball as much as we can and we are not perfect but we are committed to doing things the right way.”
Sensabaugh adds that because of all these factors things have fallen into place and they are going to try and live up to the standards the team has set and winning or losing is a byproduct of that.
Defense has been the team’s main weapon this season. The Bearcats are giving up an average of 45 points a game. In five of the games, Spencerville has held its opponent to under 50 points.
In addition to continuing to play solid defense, Sensabaugh would like to see more improvement on the offensive end. The Bearcats are averaging 54 points a contest.
“I think that we have done that in the last past few weeks but we have a long way to go,” Sensabaugh said. “I think these guys play so hard and really play hard for each other and that has been the most pleasing thing,”
Sensabaugh would like to see the team cut down on turnovers and he wants the team to become more efficient at the free throw line. He said in the team’s loss to Crestview the biggest reason for going down to the Knights was going 7 for 15 from the charity stripe.
“We have some things that we need to get better at and we are just going to keep plugging away,” Sensabaugh said. “We are not trying to look to far ahead. We are one game at a time like everybody else but knowing we are not close to where we want to be. We are not close to being a finished product. We told the team we have a lot of improving to do and if you think we have arrived you are crazy. We are not close to who we need to be.
“Every one knows you don’t want to be playing your best now anyway. You want to be playing your best at the end of the yea and that is kind of our goal. Our schedule sets us up for that. We have a tough schedule and we appreciate that. We enjoy that and we are going to learn from that and hopefully be playing our best come tournament time.”
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