A tremendous second-half defensive effort lifted Seymour’s boys basketball team to comfortable 55-26 victory over South Ripley on Thursday night.

The Owls held the Raiders scoreless in the fourth quarter and to just four total points in the second half.

Known for its defensive-mindedness, Seymour (11-5) has held opponents to single digits in a quarter 22 times this season. Three weeks ago, the Owls allowed Bedford North Lawrence to score just two points in the second quarter of a 36-26 Seymour win.

On Thursday, however, the Owls took their defensive prowess to a new level, holding South Ripley 30 points under its 56.9 scoring average. The Raiders’ previous low-scoring output this season was 34 against Batesville.

“It was a remarkable effort,” Seymour head coach Kirk Manns said. “Playing defense is not always fun, but the end result can be nice if you stick with it. At halftime, we made an adjustment. They were getting 3-point shots in the first half. We did a good job getting our feet on the 3-point line and taking that away.”

South Ripley (10-7) knocked down five 3s in the first half, but missed all three attempted long shots in the second half.

After Nick Schwarte made a turn-around jumper with 3:31 left in the third quarter, Seymour kept South Ripley scoreless over the game’s remaining 11:31.

That scoreless drought meant the Owls ended the game on a 24-0 run. The contest had been close to that point, with Seymour holding a 31-26 advantage.

Thursday’s game was Seymour’s first since Jan. 29, with two scheduled contests cancelled due to the recent snowstorm.

Despite the long layoff, the Owls started the game quickly, making six of their first seven shots and racing to an early 13-5 lead.

Seymour built that lead to 22-13 three minutes into the second quarter before South Ripley found its touch from the outside. The Raiders drained three straight 3-pointers to construct a 9-0 run to tie the game at 22 with 3:41 to go in the first half.

“I thought we were out-of-sync from not having played for two weeks,” Manns said. “We were sluggish. It was tough not playing. It reminded me of Christmas break. I hope we have good weather the rest of the way and we can get into a rhythm.”

Seymour was led offensively by junior Eli Meyer, who scored a game-high 17 points on 5-for-8 shooting from the field and a perfect 7-for-7 effort on the foul line.

Fellow junior Landon Fritsch added 13 points on the strength of a 3-for-5 night from 3-point range. Andrew Levine came off the bench to score eight points and highlighted the Owls’ second-half run with a behind-the-back pass on a fastbreak that led to a layup by Fritsch.

Casey Regruth added six points, while Marcus Brooks ended with five.