Owls top Red Devils 55-47 at home

In an early season already packed with memorable moments, Seymour’s boys basketball team outdid itself Friday night.

Using a 19-2 run in the third quarter and just-good-enough foul shooting in the fourth quarter, the Owls defeated No. 17 Jeffersonville to improve to 4-1 on the season and open Hoosier Hills Conference play with an important win.

The victory is just the second by Seymour over the Red Devils in the two teams’ last 19 contests dating back to 2008.

“There were so many positives for us to tonight,” Seymour head coach Kirk Manns said. “I couldn’t be happier for our guys. We’ve now got a couple of these (big wins) so far. We want to keep getting better so that we can enjoy a few more.”

Two weeks ago, Seymour beat Columbus North for the first time in 12 years.

The Owls were led by their front line of Casey Regruth, Eli Meyer and Marcus Brooks, who combined to score 40 points and grab 17 rebounds.

“We got a lot of offensive production out of them,” Manns said. “Casey got going in the third quarter and made some big buckets.”

The Owls made five of their first six shots and grabbed an early 10-4 lead midway through the first quarter.

But that hot shooting chilled in the second quarter, as the two teams reversed roles.

The Red Devils (1-2) made all five of their field goal attempts and outscored Seymour 12-5 to take a two-point lead into halftime.

Jeff would then score the second half’s first six points to extend their lead to 27-19 with 6:30 to go in the third quarter.

That’s when Seymour found its rhythm.

Regruth scored 11 third-quarter points on 5-for-5 shooting and Brooks added six more to fuel the Owls’ game-changing run.

A 3-pointer by Regruth from the top pushed Seymour in front 32-29. A reverse layup by Meyer, two foul shots by Brooks and a driving layup by Regruth swelled the lead to 38-29 in favor of the Owls.

“We got bogged down in the second quarter,” Manns said. “We weren’t moving the ball around. We did a much better job in the third quarter. We spread them out and started finding lanes.”

Seymour would build their advantage to 44-33 after consecutive layups by Brooks early in the fourth quarter.

Because of their ‘Cardiac Kids’ tendency, the Owls tested their fans’ patience by missing six of eight free throws during a five-minute stretch in the fourth period.

Jeff took advantage of that cold spell and cut the gap to 48-45 with just 1:16 to go.

Landon Fritsch broke the Owls’ cold foul shooting, however, by making two clutch free throws with 1:08 left. Seymour would hit seven of their last eight attempts over the final 68 seconds to seal the win.

“We made enough free throws to get through,” Manns said. “We want to keep being in this position so we can improve our (foul) shooting.”

Regruth led all scorers with 15 points, exceeding his scoring total from the previous four games (14). Meyer followed with 14 points and a game-high seven rebounds. Brooks ended with 11.