By John Regruth | For The Tribune
Tuesday night’s Seymour-New Albany boys basketball game had the feel of urban warfare. Maybe trench warfare, with every inch, every point requiring excruciating effort.
Unfortunately for Seymour, the end result had a familiar feel as New Albany escaped a hard-fought 43-38 overtime victory.
The Owls took New Albany to overtime last season before falling by a point. Seymour has now lost 22 straight games to the Bulldogs, a string that stretches back to 2005.
The Bulldogs scored all 14 of their overtime points from the foul line and ended the game 26 for 41 on free throws. That effort allowed them to overcome a poor shooting night that saw New Albany make just eight of its 35 field goal attempts.
Seymour was stung by 14-for-40 shooting (35 percent) and 20 turnovers. But the Owls never let New Albany out of its sights. Tuesday’s game featured seven ties and 13 lead changes. The biggest lead for either team all night was just five points.
The Owls were down 29-26 as the clock evaporated when Landon Fritsch hit the Owls’ first 3-pointer of the game with 33 seconds to go to send the contest into overtime.
New Albany quickly built a five-point lead in extra time when a Marcus Brooks free throw and a there-pointer by Casey Regruth closed the gap to 34-33 with 1:31 left.
That’s as close at the Owls could get. New Albany hit nine of its next 12 foul shots to secure the win.
“We did battle tonight,” Seymour coach Kirk Manns said. “We certainly played with effort and we played smart, but we have to do that every day. When we have those two things, then we can work on our execution.”
Brooks led the Owls with 13 points on solid 5-for-7 shooting. Eli Meyer followed with seven. Regruth pulled down a game-high 10 rebounds.
“We played with energy and it didn’t lapse,” Manns said. “We had that for four quarters-plus. If we can do it against New Albany, we can do it against anybody on our schedule.”
No. 18 ranked New Albany arrived Tuesday burdened by a three-game losing streak, though not all such streaks are created equal. Those losses came at the hands of No. 2 Carmel (in Class 4A), No. 9 Zionsville (4A) and No. 2 Blackford (2A).
Seymour couldn’t extend the downward Bulldog run, though the Owls tried. In the first half, they pestered New Albany and built a five-point lead on a transition layup by Andrew Levine, a 12-foot jumper by Regruth and a short jumper by Brooks which gave Seymour a 17-12 lead with 1:22 left in the half.
New Albany would rebound, however. A three-pointer by Jayden Thompson and a couple of free throws by Maddox Schmelz with just seven seconds on the clock tied the game at the half.