Seymour’s Andrew Levine tries to keep the ball away from Brownstown Central’s Levi Stahl during Friday’s game in the Lloyd E. Scott gymnasium.
Arv Koontz | The Tribune
Brownstown’s Jakob Arthur protects the ball as Seymour’s Andrew Levine applies pressure Friday night.
Arv Koontz | The Tribune
Brownstown Central’s Carter Waskom protects the ball from Seymour’s Bret Perry during Friday’s game, won by the Braves in double overtime.
Arv Koontz | The Tribune
Brownstown Central’s Jack Benter prepares to make a move to the basket as Seymour’s Eli Meyer defends in the first half Friday night.
Arv Koontz | The Tribune
Brownstown Central’s Carter Waskom puts up a shot as Seymour’s Andrew Levine falls backward. No. 2 for the Owls is Landon Fritsch.
Arv Koontz | The Tribune
Seymour’s Eli Meyer tries to control the ball as Seymour’s Marcus Brooks and Brownstown Central’s Carson Darlage reach. No. 2 for the Owls is Landon Fritsch.
Arv Koontz | The Tribune
Brownstown Central’s boys basketball team made all 10 of its free throws down the stretch and pulled away to a deceptively comfortable 62-55 double-overtime victory over a determined Seymour squad on Friday night.
With the game tied at 49, Jack Benter hit a deep 3-pointer from the left side to give his team the breathing space it needed. A driving layup by Carter Waskom bumped the lead to 54-49 and forced Seymour to scramble thereafter. The Owls never got closer than three points the remainder of the game.
The win extends Brownstown’s winning streak over Seymour to an impressive 14 straight. The Owls last beat the Braves in 2007.
The loss for Seymour, meanwhile, deepened a dispiriting close-but-no-cigar trend in overtime. In the last three seasons, the Owls are 2-5 in OT games.
Seymour (2-1) had excellent chances to reverse its luck on Friday night. The Owls held a four-point lead with just 1:40 to go in regulation before Brownstown fought back and tied the game.
The Owls also had the ball at the end of both regulation and the first overtime, but couldn’t find a game-winning basket.
Perhaps most difficult for Seymour was its performance at the foul line. In the fourth quarter and early in the first overtime, the Owls missed five straight foul shots, including two front ends of one-and-one opportunities.
Brownstown had the opposite results on the foul line, converting all 13 of its free throws in the fourth quarter and in the two overtime periods.
Whichever way allegiances fell on Friday night, the raucous crowd in Seymour’s gym reveled in the two intra-county rivals’ intensity. The game featured 13 ties and 14 lead changes.
Fans also witnessed several stellar individual performances.
Benter ended with a game-high 36 points on 13-for-31 shooting against a solid defensive effort by the Owls. The 6-foot-4 sophomore scored all nine of his team’s fourth-quarter points despite briefly leaving the game after suffering a non-contact injury to his right leg.
On the Seymour side, Marcus Brooks led with 20 points on efficient 8-for-11 shooting from the field. Brooks’ teammate Landon Fritsch ended with 18.
ln fact, in the first quarter, it was all Fritsch. Literally.
The junior hit four consecutive shots and accounted for all 10 of the Owls’ points in the first period. He later made a 3-pointer from the left baseline with 2:02 left in the game that gave Seymour a 43-39 lead and an apparent opportunity to claim the win.
A driving layup and two foul shots by Benter, however, tied the game with 21 seconds remaining and forced the contest into extra time.