Boys basketball: Spencerville outbattles St. Marys

ST. MARYS — St. Marys boasts a great deal of height in its starting lineup.

However, Spencerville’s aggressive style of play at both ends of the court, helped pave the way for a hard-fought 65-61 victory over St. Marys in a nonleague boys basketball matchup Tuesday night at St. Marys.

“Our guys just kept fighting,” Spencerville head coach Kevin Sensabaugh said. “It was hard enough for us to get one stop in the game, let alone getting the really important ones late in the game; because they are so hard to match up with and so hard to guard.”

Josh Henline led Spencerville (8-1) with 22 points, including two 3-pointers and a perfect 6-of-6 shooting from the free throw line. Henline also came away with five rebounds, three steals and two assists. Dylan Smith poured in 20 points, including two 3-pointers.

Austin Parks, a 6-foot-11 senior, led St. Marys (4-3) with 25 points, including 6-of-6 shooting from the charity stripe. Parks has committed to play basketball at Ohio State next school year. Brayden Sullivan had 11 points. Evan Angstmann, a 6-6 junior, added nine points and four boards for the Roughriders.

Spencerville jumped out to a 9-2 lead, less than four minutes into the contest.

That fast start enabled the Bearcats to pull out to a 20-13 advantage by the end of the first quarter.

Henline led the way for Spencerville in the first eight minutes of action with eight points. Smith scored seven first-quarter points.

St. Marys battled back in the second quarter.

With 4:47 left to play in the first half, Angstmann hit a 3-pointer to knot the contest at 24.

However, Spencerville had an answer of its own.

The Bearcats managed to slip out with a 36-30 lead by the halftime break.

Henline led all scorers in the first half with 16 points, including 6-of-6 shooting from the free throw line. Parks led St. Marys with nine points and four rebounds.

In the first half, Spencerville shot 50 percent from the field. St. Marys connected on 48 percent of its field goal attempts.

For the game, Spencerville shot 46 percent from the field. St. Marys ended the night, shooting 51 percent from the floor.

At the 5:25 mark of the third quarter, St. Marys took a 37-36 lead, on two free throws by Cobain Owens (seven points, five assists).

Late in the third, Spencerville’s Carter Sudhoff (6-foot-6 junior), who was guarding Parks most of the night, got called for his fourth foul and was forced to sit on the bench.

At the end of three quarters of action, the game was knotted at 48 apiece.

In the fourth quarter, the Roughriders led by as many as five points.

However, Spencerville came roaring back.

With 1:46 left to play, Dylan Smith hit a 3-pointer from the top of the key to knot the game at 59 each.

Then with a minute to go, Smith scored down low to give the Bearcats a 61-59 lead.

Moments later, Owen Sensabaugh (six points, two steals), the coach’s son, made 1 of 2 shots at the free throw line to give the Bearcats a 62-59 lead.

Spencerville put the game the way at the charity stripe, making three more charity tosses down the stretch.

On the night, the Bearcats made 13 of 17 shots from the free throw line.

“Man, our guys just fought their brains out,” Coach Sensabaugh said. “I like the pace. … We played at a high pace. I thought we did a great job of handling the ball. I thought we did a good job of pressuring the ball. We got some crucial steals. … It was a great win.”

St. Marys committed 12 turnovers on the night, while Spencerville turned it over just six times.

Spencerville held a slight 24-23 edge on the boards.

Sensabaugh was especially pleased at his team’s defensive effort on Parks.

“When you guard a guy like him, it’s like everyone has to be doing the right things,” Sensabaugh said. “We had good weak-side help. We had good ball pressure. It was really fun to see a team get after it, as much as we did. It was fun.

“I knew we weren’t going to stop Parks. He’s going to get his (points). I didn’t want Angstmann to get going. We just made an effort to not leave him alone, and make everything that he got, tough.”

Reach The Lima News sports department at 567-242-0451.