SPENCERVILLE – With four players on its roster who had experience as starters last season when Spencerville won 21 games and was the Northwest Conference boys basketball champion, an 0-2 start this season wasn’t exactly what the Bearcats were expecting.
But they definitely met all expectations when they dominated Fort Jennings 72-39 for their first win of the season at home on Saturday night.
“Everybody played well. We shared the ball extremely well. We got up and down the court really well. It was a much-needed win,” Spencerville coach Kevin Sensabaugh said.
Carder Orr (15 points, 6 rebounds), Evan Osting (15 points), Carder Sudhoff (14 points, 8 rebounds) and freshman Will Sensabaugh (12 points) led Spencerville. Jarron Swick, with 13 points, was the leading scorer for Fort Jennings (2-2).
“It was big. We’re going to build off this and have a good season,” Sudhoff said.
Orr said, “It’s a very crucial confidence builder for us. It helps us get momentum and move forward because those two losses were rough.”
With Sudhoff, a 6-6 center, and Orr, a 6-4 forward in its starting lineup, Spencerville had a decided size advantage over Fort Jennings, whose tallest starter was 6-1.
Their role in the game plan, along with 6-3 senior Michael Woods off the bench, was to dominate inside in rebounding and on defense. Their scoring was not at the top of their to-do list before the game started, but it joined their other assignments as the game unfolded.
“The game plan for me was just to rebound, but the guards did a great job of getting it to me and I made my shots pretty much,” Sudhoff said.
Sensabaugh said, “Obviously, we wanted to dominate the boards, and I think we did that. That was crucial. We had not been rebounding the ball well at all. The first two games we were out-rebounded drastically. We needed to get back on the good side of it tonight.”
Spencerville shot 47 percent on field goals (25 of 53) while Fort Jennings struggled, hitting 31 percent (12 of 39). The Bearcats had a 29-23 rebounding edge.
Playing four solid quarters was another point of emphasis for Spencerville. It led 41-20 at halftime and continued to increase its lead in the second half.
“The first game (a 65-58 loss to St. Henry) we played a really bad fourth quarter. Last night (a 56-55 loss to Elida) we played a terrible third quarter,” Sensabaugh said. “So we’re just trying to get to the point where we put together four quarters. Hopefully, that pays off next week.”
Orr said, “We struggled in the second half in our first two games. The goal tonight was to come out with the same energy in the second half as we did in the first half.”
Spencerville 72,
Fort Jennings 39
Score by quarters:
Fort Jennings 9 11 17 2 — 39
Spencerville 17 24 16 15 — 72
Fort Jennings
Jarron Swick 13, Adam Hoersten 2, Ian Howbert 2, Owen Calvelage 6, Calvin Menke 3, Sam Dube 8, Adam Luersman 4. Totals: 12-11-39.
Spencerville
Owen Sensabaugh 7, Carder Sudhoff 15, Carder Orr 14, Will Sensabaugh 12, Evan Osting 15, Michael Woods 4, Grady Smith 3, Reggie Jones 2. Totals: 25-17-72.
Three-point goals: FJ — Calvelage 2, Howbert 1, Menke 1; S — Osting 3, Grady Smith 1, Owen Sensabaugh 1.
Records: Spencerville 1-2; Fort Jennings 2-2.
