New Albany put together runs of 12-0 in the first period and 13-0 in the second period to open up a 46-20 lead against Seymour by halftime of Friday night’s Hoosier Hills Conference game before leaving the Lloyd E. Scott Gymnasium with a 76-27 win.
The Bulldogs jumped on top 8-0 in less than two minutes before Seymour’s Jack Roberts hit a 6-foot jump hook to make it 8-2 at 5:11. Eric McCoy followed up with a 3-pointer at 4:12 to leave the Owls trailing 10-5 before the Bulldogs went on a 12-0 run over the next two minutes for a 22-10 lead.
Payton Reasoner closed the first-quarter scoring with a 3-pointer for the Owls, and McCoy opened the second period with another three for a 22-11 score.
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The Bulldogs combined on layups, jump shots, and 3-pointers from Trey Hourigan and Derrick Stevenson to lead 35-11 with five minutes left in the second period and led 46-20 after 16 minutes of play.
Seymour assistant coach Jackson Ryan said the Bulldogs are talented in several areas.
“I think Coach (Jim) Shannon just does a great job with his program and the success they’ve had all through the years especially with the state championship recently,” Ryan said. “Top-to-bottom, they are fundamentally sound.
“They play the right way on both ends of the court. Defensively they have the athletes that have the size and they’re just solid. They’re not going to beat themselves and when you have that you have the makings for a good ball club.”
The Bulldogs shot 18-for-32 from the field in the first half and the Owls hit 7 of 24 shots.
New Albany kept its intensity up at the start of the third period by scoring the first eight points to go up 54-20.
Roberts finally made a field goal at the 5:45-mark, and added a basket at the 4:25-mark. Montana Suits scored a basket late in the third quarter as the Bulldogs held a 65-25 lead going into the final period.
Colin Madden scored Seymour’s final basket at the beginning of the fourth period as Seymour finished shooting 10-for-45 from the floor while the Bulldogs hit 30 of 57 shots.
“We let their quickness take us out of our game and what we needed to do,” Ryan said. “We’ve got to learn when we play these teams that are talented, how to handle that. How do we score, how do we do what we can do to fight through and grind it out and get a win.
“They’re great kids and they always fight no matter what the score is. The kids aren’t going to hang their heads. They’re going to go until the buzzer sounds. When you’re 1-5 in today’s world it’s easy to hang your heads, and to point the finger and to quit. I think that says a lot about these kids and how they were raised in this community. They’re going to be in here for a shoot around (this morning) to get better.”
The Bulldogs (3-1, 1-1 HHC) had scoring balance as Julien Hunter scored 19, and Stevenson and Chris Johnson scored 18 each.
McCoy was high scorer for the Owls with eight.
The Owls will travel to Jennings County tonight for another HHC game.
“We should be the hungriest team in the state right now,” Ryan said. “We’re coming off five losses and there should be no excuses not being ready to play. These kids should be focused in when we get to the gym.”