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02/20/2018 11:00 PMSophomore Cade Ensinger is making quite an impression as one of the first players to come off the bench for the Valley Regional boys’ basketball team this winter. Throughout the course of the season, Cade has developed into a key contributor who’s playing important minutes as a combo guard, while also filling in at small forward. Cade prides himself on playing both sides of the ball, and he’s leading the Warriors in steals by averaging 1.2 per game on the year.
Cade may be a versatile perimeter player for Valley right now, although he admits that he wasn’t especially confident on the court at the outset of the season. However, Cade started to feel more at ease as the campaign wore on after he and his teammates jelled from logging a lot of minutes together on the floor.
“I feel like at the beginning of the season, I was nervous playing in games, and that has gone away over time. I’m a lot more comfortable in the game,” Cade says. “I’m comfortable playing [point guard, shooting guard, and small forward]. I love handling the ball, but I understand that I need to play the other positions, too.”
Cade has found his niche as a bench player with Valley this year, and that’s just fine with him. It’s not as important to Cade that he starts, but rather, that he contributes for the Warriors when he’s out there.
“I don’t really mind coming off the bench. Our bench is very deep and is deeper than a lot of other teams’, and that’s helped us throughout the season,” says Cade, a Deep River resident. “It feels good to be able to bring something to the team.”
Cade strives to be a difference maker on each end of the floor. On offense, his philosophy is get to the rim when the ball is in his hands, so he can collapse the defense and find the open man to take the shot. If he’s off the ball and gets open, Cade isn’t afraid to let the shot fly. From a defensive perspective, Cade tries to make matters difficult for the opposition by being a nuisance and making sure he always has his teammates’ backs.
“I feel like I can bring both aspects of the game. I try to get to the rim a lot. Other defenders come out, and I’ll dish it off. I like to use my speed, but I will use an in-and-out or a crossover just to get one step ahead of them. If I’m open on the 3-point line, I will definitely shoot,” he says. “I try be disruptive on defense and help out my teammates and play help defense. I try to do my best to make it hardest for the other team to score.”
Head Coach Kevin Woods has seen Cade’s progression into a multi-faceted player who has a good basketball IQ. Woods says that Cade is an ideal sixth man because of his versatility, and he believes that Cade can still get significantly better as he sees more time on the court.
“He’s really athletic for a sophomore and really strong physically. He finishes really well. He has all the tools to be a really strong player for a long time. He’s developing more game sense every day...He’s getting better all the time,” says Woods. “The more situations he’s exposed to, that bodes well for his future. He’s our true sixth man, and he can go into the game in any situation.”
Cade feels proud about how the Warriors have worked to become a cohesive unit and a formidable opponent in the Shoreline Conference this season. With some new faces working their way into the rotation, Cade was pleased to see all the pieces fit nicely and help Valley go on a big winning streak following a rocky start to the year.
“In the beginning of the season, we as a team were still learning how to play together and still trying to figure out our roles. Once we figured out that stuff, we were able to go on a run, and we’ve been a lot better since then,” Cade says. “The development of our team is something to look back on and think about how much we were able to change, develop, and get better.”
As for the future, Cade wants to continuously improve throughout his next two years with the Warriors. Cade is aiming to become a great basketball player and, to him, that means being on the same page and in the flow of the game with his teammates.
“I’m interested in being a really good player, but I need to make sure that I keep everyone else involved, and make sure everyone else is getting their chances,” says Cade, who thanks his father Dennis Ensinger and his brother Cole for their support. “Playing as a team in my junior and senior years will be the best thing for us. We can be very good if we just play as a team.”