DELPHOS — The backyard battle of the Jefferson Wildcats and Spencerville Bearcats was on Friday night at “The Stage” in Delphos. Jefferson was looking for its first Northwest Conference win of 2007-08;  the Wildcats got it, winning 56-52. The Wildcats got the tip but couldn’t convert it. Jefferson balanced the scoring between players in the opening period. Spencerville stayed close with Andy Richardson draining a three, Tyler Keysor putting down two free throws and two others contributing. Jefferson ended the first quarter with Mike Rahrig (10 points) making a bouncing 3-pointer to make the score 11-10, Jefferson. “We played hard and battled. Our effort was better than most nights. When you can’t shoot to make baskets, then you can’t win,” stated Spencerville coach Kevin Sensabaugh. Spencerville came out strong in the second quarter, outscoring Jefferson 19-16 to go into the break with a 29-27 lead. Zach Bowers was high scorer for the Bearcats in the second, tallying 10 of his 15 points on the night. Jefferson garnered only nine shots from the field in the period, scoring on four of those; the Bearcats converted on 6-of-11 shots. “Close ball game; Spencerville is well-coached. I have all respect for how they played. Kevin has done a nice job with the program,” stated Jefferson coach Marc Smith.

Once again, Jefferson’s defense came out strong, holding the Bearcats to five points in the third. Neither team scored double digits in the quarter but  they really balanced out their scoring between people.

Jefferson was able to force 12 turnovers; in turn, Spencerville forced 16. The turnovers and points were not the only things close to each other as the rebounds were also in the close range, Jefferson having 22 and the Bearcats 27. There were all sorts of battles for the ball in this matchup as both teams were forced to call timeouts in the final two periods after either struggling to get the ball in bounds or keeping it in bounds after rolling all over the floor. Wiltsie hit a basket at the buzzer to give Jefferson the lead 36-34 entering the fourth.

“We challenged Michael Wiltsie at half to shut down Bowers. We don’t always make things easy with missing free throws but we played with intensity,” commented Smith.

The final quarter was back-and-forth on the scoring as both teams were at the foul line on almost every foul called. Jefferson was just able to outscore the Bearcats by two to pull off the win. Wiltsie really stepped up for the ’Cats as he hit two big 3s in the final period. Both teams were implementing a defensive and offensive strategy at the end, trying to get some offense going without allowing the other team to shut them down with their defense.

“It was a brawl out there with both teams being carbon copies of each other. I told the guys that they could celebrate until about eight in the morning, then they have to get ready for Miller City,” added Smith.

The Wildcats increase their record to 6-4 (1-3 NWC) and will face off with the Miller City Wildcats tonight at Miller City. The Bearcats, however, fell to 4-7 (2-2 NWC) and will be off until Tuesday when they face off with the Kalida Wildcats.

In JV action, the Wildcats conquered the Bearcats 49-19. Mitchell Antalis led the Wildcats with 12 points; Kevin Lenhart topped the Bearcats with 12 as well.