A nine-point outburst midway through the fourth quarter provided the space Seymour’s boys basketball team needed to pull away to a 64-52 victory over Corydon Central on Tuesday night.

Perfect 11-for-11 shooting from the foul line in the final quarter didn’t hurt either as the Owls (1-0) reached the 60-point mark for just the third time in Kirk Manns’ three years as head coach.

“If we had been a little more patient in our shot selection, maybe we could have scored 74 points,” a happy Manns quipped after watching his team defeat Corydon for the eighth straight time, including the last six season openers.

Corydon hit its first four shots and had Seymour down early, 9-4, before Andrew Levine came off the bench to spark a 15-0 run that gave the Owls the lead for good midway through the first half.

On his first touch, Levine drained a 3-pointer, then the senior added two layups, two rebounds and a steal to help the Owls jump to a 19-9 advantage with 5:47 left in the half.

Corydon would close the Owls’ lead to four points several times throughout the rest of the game, but never could seriously loosen the home team’s grip on the contest.

Late in the second quarter, the Panthers (0-1) closed the gap to 27-23, but the Owls responded with two Charlie Longmeier free throws and an alley-oop layup at the halftime buzzer by Casey Regruth on a pass from Longmeier to restore an eight-point lead.

When Corydon again narrowed the deficit at the start of the fourth quarter, four foul shots by Marcus Brooks, a jumper by Regruth and a fastbreak layup by Bret Perry stretched the lead back to 13.

“We made plays to win the game,” Manns said. “The positives far outweighed the negatives tonight. We missed some easy shots at the start of the game, but we picked it up and got the lead. We’ve got to get better defensively, but they say a team improves the most between the first and second games. We’ll get back to work tomorrow.”

Three Owls finished in double figures, led by junior Landon Fritsch’s 14. Brooks added 13 before fouling out, while Meyer ended with 11. Levine finished with nine points.

Meyer joined in the good work that Levine did on the defensive end, finishing with four steals. In all, the Owls forced Corydon into 16 turnovers.

Though Seymour had a tough time solving Corydon’s hulking 6-foot-3 center Austin Vaughn, the Owls ended the night with a 25-22 rebounding advantage. Regruth finished with a game-high eight boards.

Seymour’s next game is on Saturday when the Owls travel to Columbus North.