By John Regruth | For The Tribune
A veteran Columbus North squad took full advantage of a turnover-prone Seymour boys basketball team on Saturday night, scoring 26 points off of 20 Owl turnovers and pulling away to a comfortable 68-34 victory.
A rash of mistakes by Seymour (1-1) during the first three minutes of the second quarter allowed North to convert a one-point game into a 23-10 advantage. A second wave of turnovers early in the third quarter led to another Bull Dog outburst that extended the lead to 42-22.
“It looked like a layup drill out there for a while,” Seymour head coach Kirk Manns said of North’s response to the Owls’ turnovers. “My biggest concerns coming into the game were, our transition defense wasn’t very good. That’s something we’ve got to get straight. Then, offensively, the most concerning thing is turning it over. A high school team should be under double digits in turnovers.”
[sc:text-divider text-divider-title=”Story continues below gallery” ]Click here to purchase photos from this gallery
Seymour had a more manageable 12 turnovers in its season-opening 48-44 victory over Corydon Central earlier in the week. But Columbus North (2-1), which fielded a senior-laden lineup, held the Owls accountable for their mistakes in this home opener.
Senior-less Seymour struggled to contain the physical, aggressive Bull Dogs on Saturday.
“Like I tell our guys, this is ‘big boy’ basketball,” Manns said. “(Columbus North is) not overly big, but they’re put together. That’s a group that works hard in the off season. They’ve have been through the battles. They know their roles, they know what it is to play hard, and they know what that looks like. I told our kids, ‘They showed you how.’ I hope we learned a lot tonight.”
North’s four seniors combined for 47 points, led by Blake Barker, who made five 3-pointers and ended with a game-high 23 points. Fellow senior Max Wilson came off the bench and added 16 points on perfect 7-for-7 shooting.
Seymour was paced by junior Marcus Brooks, who finished with 14 points. Eli Meyer followed up a promising effort in the season opener by scoring seven points, grabbing four rebounds and blocking two shots.
“(Eli) will just keep getting better if he continues to work,” Manns said of the 6-foot-3 sophomore. “He’s an athlete with a soft touch. I think he’ll continue to improve.”
Sophomore Landon Fritsch matched Meyer with four rebounds.
Both teams shot the ball well, though Seymour’s chances were limited by its turnovers. The Owls shot 50 percent from the field (13 for 26) while Columbus North shot 57.5 percent on 23-for-40 shooting.
North’s outside shooting proved to be a huge advantage. The Bull Dogs made nine of 19 3-point shots. Seymour, meanwhile, succeeded on just one of its five 3-pointers.
In two games thus far, the Owls are a combined 2-for-16 from 3-point range.
Saturday’s loss was Seymour’s 12th straight to Columbus North. The Owls last beat North in February of 2009, a win that capped a run in which Seymour beat the Bull Dogs 12 times in a stretch of 16 games.
Seymour looks to regroup as it prepares for a game on Friday against intra-county rival Brownstown Central.