Bluffton holds strong against Bearcats, wins 12th straight

BLUFFTON — Through the first 16 minutes of Friday's game, there were ten lead changes and two ties between Spencerville and Bluffton. The Pirates held a 21-19 lead at the midway point. "(We) were having a hard time with [Dylan] Smith, his penetration was hurting us, Henline's a tough matchup and [Tyler] Koenig on the perimeter — those guys were hurting us," Bluffton coach Todd Boblitt said of his team's defense. "But defensively we still felt pretty good, we gave up just 19 points. Some of our discussion in here at the half was still about what do we do defensively and that wasn't our issue, it was trying to score." Consider his message received. Behind a monster fourth quarter by Trenton Donley — who scored 16 points in the fourth quarter and finished with a game-high 25 — and Bluffton's defense holding Spencerville to just 29 points through three quarters, the Pirates were able to stay perfect in the NWC, winning 66-58. "I thought in the second half, we tried to exploit some matchups that favored us on the perimeter and our guys are skilled," Boblitt continued. "So, we can put our guys in multiple positions and it worked out." Early in the third quarter, Bluffton had just a two-point, 23-21 lead. From then on, the Pirates used a 15-8 run to go up, 38-29, after three. And the momentum didn't stop after the third-quarter buzzer went off. Late in the third quarter, the Pirates widened their lead to 60-45. "They did a really good job spreading us out; they were a difficult matchup for us, we can't rely on some of our size and strength," Spencerville head coach Kevin Sensabaugh said. "These guys were hard for us to guard because we've got some big guys and when we play smaller, that shortens our bench a little bit. I think they played really well, made some tough shots in the paint and the Donley kid really hurt us." The Bearcats — who came into Friday's game with a 13-2 record — dropped their second-straight game, and lost their second NWC game. "In the fourth, we just had to scramble, and it was kind of getting away from us," Sensabaugh said. "We knew we had to pressure and trap them. Unfortunately, when you do that, you're going to give up easy layups and give up some open shots. We just had to take some chances and hope they missed and they didn't really, they played pretty well. That's what it comes down to, they played really well and played better than us tonight." It was the Pirates' (13-1, 6-0 NWC) 12th-straight win. Their last loss was to Liberty-Benton on December 4, 51-29. And it was the best thing to happen to Todd Boblitt's team. "There wasn't anything productive that came out of that night, except it woke our guys up because we felt like we had a good team," Boblitt said. "I think maybe our guys felt too good about themselves and that put them back to reality. "I think our mindset from that game forward has been 'The one that's in front of us is the most important one and we want to be our best version each night we step on the floor.'" SPENCERVILLE (13-3, 3-2 NWC) Henline 5-2—13, Osting 1-0—2, Smith 5-1—11, Elling 1-0—2, Sudhoof 2-0—4, Koenig 5-7—17, Harter 1-0—2, Sommer 3-0—7. TOTALS: 23-10—58. BLUFFTON (13-1, 6-0 NWC) Donley 9-5—25, Soper 3-2—8, Kinn 1-9—11, Boblitt 4-5—14, Schaadt 2-2—6, Donaldson 1-0—2. TOTALSL 20-23—66. Spencerville 11 8 10 29—58 Bluffton 12 9 17 28—66 3-POINT GOALS: Spencerville 2; Bluffton 3 (Donley 2). TURNOVERS: Spencerville 13; Bluffton 12. JUNIOR VARSITY: Bluffton, 57-52.