The undefeated No. 6 New Albany boys basketball team came to town Friday to face the 1-5 Seymour Owls.
Despite the hosts playing gritty defense throughout the game, the Bulldogs came away with a 67-41 victory in the Lloyd E. Scott Gymnasium.
In the first quarter, the Owls were able to keep the Bulldogs to just 13 points. However, offensively the Owls only made two field goals for four points.
While they didn’t score much, the Owls did cause the Bulldogs to commit six fouls.
“It’s been a strength of ours to get to the free-throw line, and that’s been an emphasis from our coaches,” Owls coach Kyle Clough said. “We haven’t been shooting the ball that great, so obviously we need to find other ways to score.
“Our guys are doing a much better job settling down and being balanced taking shots. We can start kicking out some shots, and when we start hitting them, I think we will be in a good place.”
The Bulldogs went on a 18-0 run from the 4:10 mark in the first quarter to the 4:13 mark in the second.
The Owls’ Zach Schlatterer ended the drought with
two made free throws to bring the score to 20-6 in favor of
the Bulldogs.
Trailing 30-13 after intermission, the Owls came out
strong in the beginning of
the third quarter.
Toriek Miller netted seven straight points for the Owls to narrow the deficit to 33-20.
One of the biggest challenges for the Owls on the night was guarding freshman standout Romeo Langford. Langford dropped seven of his team-high 21 points in the third quarter.
After three quarters, the Bulldogs led 44-29.
The Bulldogs didn’t let off the gas, as they outscored the Owls 19-10 in the final eight minutes of play.
Coach Clough changed his starting lineup on the night by putting Schlatterer in for big man Isaiah Thomas. Schlatterer had the task of guarding Langford.
“They are so deep offensively, and that makes the matchups so tough,” Clough said. “I think our kids were outstanding defensively tonight.
“We held them down to where we thought we needed them. They were very sound and made us play on long possessions. Not a lot of teams have held them to that (low of points) this season.”
Miller led the Owls with
23 points and made all six
of his free throws to lead
his squad.