CONVOY – Will and Owen Sensabaugh took over in the fourth quarter to lead Spencerville to its first Northwest Conference win of the season.
Friday night’s matchup lived up to the hype from opening tip until the final buzzer. Spencerville’s strong fourth quarter led the Bearcats to the 52-49 victory.
“That was a classic game. That was so much fun,” Spencerville coach Kevin Sensabaugh said. “We did not shoot the ball well, and I am kind of happy about that because we still found a way to find a win. Defensively we played well. I’m proud of our effort.”
The Bearcats entered Ray Etzler Gymnasium in search of their first win there since the 2008-2009 season.
For the second consecutive game, Bearcat senior Evan Osting engineered a fast start for his offense. Osting collected five of his nine points right out of the gate, while the other four Bearcat starters chipped in a field goal.
Crestview’s leading scorer, senior Wren Sheets, entered play averaging just under 19 points per game. The defensive duo of Carder Orr and Carter Sudhoff limited the Knight all-star to just six first-half points.
“In the first half Carder (Orr) and Carter (Sudhoff), they were outstanding. Carter was playing really well before he got into foul trouble,” Sensabaugh said. “Wren is a handful, and he is going to get his points, but we limited their other stars from scoring, and that was great for our defense.”
Spencerville’s nemesis in their start to the season has been a slow start to the second half.
That nemesis began to return for the Bearcats in the second half as the Knights outscored Spencerville 17-9 in the third quarter to erase a 25-20 halftime deficit.
Crestview senior Jarret Hartings could not miss from the field out of the break, adding a quick four points to bring the Knights even with 3:50 to play in the penultimate quarter.
Moments later, Wren Sheets found his familiar form, drove to the lane, got the basket and the foul. Sheets made his free throw charitable and gave the Knights their first lead of the night at 33-30.
“We did a better job of guarding in the third quarter. Their tempo was good all night, and credit to them for finding a way to win,” Crestview coach Doug Etzler said.
Owen Sensabaugh collected six of his nine points in the third frame for the Bearcats. Entering the fourth quarter, Crestview led 37-34.
Since making his debut last Friday night in Elida, Spencerville freshman Will Sensabaugh has made a name for himself in crunch time.
Will knocked down the lone 3-pointer of the evening to open the quarter before a basket and a foul resulted in another quick three for Sensabaugh.
Two minutes later, it was Will’s older brother taking charge for the Bearcats. Sophomore Owen Sensabaugh collected the next six points to push the Bearcats ahead by four with 4:18 remaining.
Sensabaugh said. “Our third quarters are killing us this year. We are being outscored by about 20 points. But the fact we grinded it out and came back in the fourth quarter and fought like crazy was fun to see. I’m proud of our guys.”
Crestview refused to leave any effort on the floor. With 1:16 left to play, sophomore Hayden Perrott’s basket brought the Knights within two points before Spencerville closed the door.
When time expired, the Bearcats sealed back-to-back victories over Crestview for the first time since the 2008-2009/2009-2010 seasons and improved to 2-2 on the season and 1-0 in Northwest Conference play.
Spencerville returns to the floor Saturday night on the road against Ottoville. Crestview (4-1, 0-1 NWC) will welcome Wayne Trace to the Ray tomorrow evening.
Spencerville 52, Crestview 49
Spencerville – 13’ 12’ 9’ 20’ – 52
Crestview – 9’ 11’ 17’ 12’ – 49
Leading Scorers.
Spencerville – Owen Sensabaugh 15, Will Sensabaugh 12
Crestview – Wren Streets 17, Hayden Perrott 9
Nate Stidham wrote this for LimaScores.com.
