First Posted: 2/27/2015
SPENCERVILLE – The past was behind them and history was in front of them.
Spencerville’s 52-45 boys basketball win over Lincolnview on Friday night gave the Bearcats their first outright Northwest Conference title in that sport in school history.
Maybe fittingly, the basket they were attacking in the second half of that title-clinching win had them going away from the gym wall where the banners honoring Spencerville’s past NWC champions hang.
The past was behind them and they were going exactly where they wanted to go.
“All those numbers up on the banner were co-champions. We take them all. I love them all. But we’ll take this one,” Spencerville coach Kevin Sensabaugh said.
Spencerville (14-5, 7-1 NWC) got its undisputed title, but it took a struggle.
The Bearcats never led until they went up 42-40 on a pair of free throws by Mason Nourse with 5:10 left in the game. But once they got the lead, they didn’t let it get away.
Zach Goecke scored 13 points and Dakota Prichard scored 12 to lead Spencerville. Justis Dowdy had 14 points and Chandler Adams scored 13 for Lincolnview (13-9, 3-5 NWC).
The Lancers led 28-23 at halftime and went up by as many as eight points late in the third quarter.
“I think we played a little bit tight in the first half. I think our guys were a little anxious. It was a little uncharacteristic of us,” Sensabaugh said. “We were kind of missing some assignments, we missed some check outs and they got us on the boards. But in the second half our guys really came to play and battled their butts off.”
That battling might have been most apparent on defense. Lincolnview shot 29 percent (7 of 24) in the second half after making 50 percent of its field goal attempts in the first half. And after hitting four 3-pointers in the first half, the Lancers were shut out from long distance in the second half.
“Our ball pressure was a lot better in the second half and it threw them out of their rhythm,” Sensabaugh said.
Goecke said, “We came out extremely flat. We had no intensity. The defense, it just wasn’t there. But we made some halftime adjustments, came out with a little more spark and sealed the deal in the fourth quarter.”
Prichard – who hit back to back 3-pointer right after Lincolnview went out to its eight-point lead — said, “We just came out harder on defense and rebounded better. Coach told us to play defense and rebound and whatever happens happens.”
Being the first outright champion was something special for a Spencerville team that starts three juniors and two sophomores.
“Being the first one that’s outright is huge for our program,” Goecke said. “It sets an example for younger generations. If everything doesn’t work out in the beginning, continue to work hard and you’ll get what you want in the very end.”
Spencerville started the season 4-3 with four returning starters, but has won 10 of its last 12 games.
“I told them that this was just like our season,” Sensabaugh said. “The first half of the season was kind of ugly. We managed, but it was kind of ugly. The second half of the season, we played the way I expected us to play. This game was kind of like that.
“The first half, we managed to stay around. The second half, we played really well. I’m happy for our kids and I’m proud of them,” he said.
