GREENSBURG
Greensburg’s Drew Foster sank all 10 of his free throw attempts in the fourth quarter to stave-off the Seymour boys’ basketball team 55-47 on Tuesday.
In the first quarter, the Owls came out with stingy defense which converted to offense as they took a 7-1 lead by the 3:56-mark capped by a 3-pointer by sophomore Alan Perry.
The Pirates responded with a 6-0 scoring string to close the quarter but trailed the Owls 9-7 after eight minutes.
Greensburg opened the second quarter on an 8-0 run thanks to a 3-pointer and basket by Tommy Carey and a converted and-one opportunity from Chandler Deaton in the first three minutes.
Seymour junior Jordan Miller snapped the Pirates’ scoring run, however it would be one of only two scored baskets by the Owls before the half.
“I thought that their little run was tough for us,” Owls coach Kyle Clough said. “I was proud of our guys to get back into it. I thought they kept clawing. It’s another tough loss for us. We gave ourselves a chance at the end.”
The Owls shot 2-of-5 in the second quarter, and Greensburg capitalized by putting up 16 points that ended with a runner in the lane at the buzzer by Spencer Burkert, as the Pirates led 23-13 at intermission.
In the first 53 seconds of the third quarter, the Owls scored seven points.
Ryan Wieneke hit a shot followed by a steal and 3-pointer by Toriek Miller and another steal and basket by Seymour’s Tiller Cummings.
By the 3:18 mark in the third, the Owls narrowed the deficit to 28-24.
After three quarters, the Owls trailed 33-27.
Seymour was down by as many as 10 points in the fourth quarter but climbed back on a 3-pointer by Perry to bring the game within one possession, at 47-45, with 30 seconds remaining.
Foster made eight-straight free throws in the final ticks to seal the game for the Pirates.
Wieneke led the Owls’ rebounding, with nine boards of the team’s 23.
“We struggled to get inside their defense a little bit,” Clough said. “I thought we settled with some shots and didn’t get enough ball reversals with their rotations. We were a little impatient, but in the second half defense led to offense. When we’re playing our best, we’re playing up-tempo. We just didn’t have enough of them tonight.
Toriek Miller topped the Owls’ scoring with 18 points, Cummings had 10 and Jordan Miller chipped in six.
Deaton topped the Pirates’ scoring with 17 points.
With the loss, the Owls fall to 5-14 on the season. They host Austin on Friday.