Spencerville Bearcats

Columbus Grove senior Jace Darbyshire was chosen as the 2014-15 NWC Player of The Year by Northwest Conference boys’ basketball coaches at the annual selection meeting Monday evening in Delphos. Darbyshire received 113 total points to edge out Connor Lautzenheiser (CV) and Trey Smith (DJ) in the coaches’ voting.

Darbyshire averaged 21.0 points per game along with 3.4 assists for the Bulldogs, while shooting 46 percent from the field and 87 percent from the free throw line this year.

Darbyshire, Lautzenheiser and Smith were joined on the NWC first team by Lincolnview’s Justis Dowdy and Spencerville’s Zach Goecke. Darbyshire and Dowdy are seniors with Lautzenheiser, Smith and Goecke being juniors.

The voting procedure called for each coach to vote for the top 15 players on a 15-14-13, etc. point descending scale. No coach could vote for his own players.

Coach of the Year honors in the NWC go to Kevin Sensabaugh of Spencerville. He led the Bearcats to a 7-1 conference mark and a regular season record of 14-5.

FIRST TEAM
Jace Darbyshire – Columbus Grove – Senior
Connor Lautzenheiser – Crestview – Junior
Trey Smith – Delphos Jefferson – Junior
Justis Dowdy – Lincolnview – Senior
Zach Goecke – Spencerville – Junior

SECOND TEAM
Levi Kistler – Bluffton – Senior
Alex Arellano – Paulding – Junior
Grant McBride – Ada – Senior
Mason Nourse – Spencerville – Junior
Chandler Adams – Lincolnview – Junior

HONORABLE MENTION
Jace Stockwell – Delphos Jefferson – Sophomore
Spencer Miller – Allen East – Sophomore
Cody Mefferd – Crestview – Junior
Dakota Prichard – Spencerville – Sophomore
Gabe Stechschulte – Columbus Grove – Junior
Brett Rumer – Bluffton – Junior
Blake Willeke – Ada – Junior
Hayden Ludwig – Lincolnview – Junior
Brayden Sautter – Ada – Junior
Mitchell Ault – Bluffton – Junior