Seymour boys basketball head coach Kirk Manns said something he doesn’t say very often. He thought the Owls’ opponent on Friday night played harder than Seymour.

The typically hard-nosed Seymour team that makes things difficult on the opposition got outplayed by Bedford North Lawrence as the Stars were victorious 54-37 inside Lloyd E. Scott Gymnasium.

“I thought Bedford played harder than us tonight, and I don’t say that very often,” Manns said, “and I don’t want have to say it very often either.”

Seymour had a solid first few possessions as Bret Perry, Landon Fritsch and Charlie Longmeier all scored baskets.

Bedford had no issues milking their offensive possessions for as long as they wanted to try to find the best shot possible. Seymour’s defense, as good as it is, had to defend for long periods at a time and the Stars got a loose a couple of times from 3-point range to take a 15-8 lead at the end of the first quarter.

The Owls held the Stars to just six points in the second quarter and cut into the deficit thanks to baskets from Longmeier, Perry, Ethan Silcox and Eli Meyer.

Seymour trailed by four at halftime, 21-17.

Jaylan Johnson hit two free throws to start the second half to make it 21-19, but then a couple of Seymour turnovers and a Perry layup that somehow rolled out allowed the Stars to go on a 9-0 run and take their first double digit lead of the game at 30-19.

BNL would take that 11-point advantage into the fourth quarter, holding the Owls to just two points and no field goals in the third period.

“We turned the ball over the first four possessions three times,” Manns said on the third quarter. “That was our chance right there if we were going to make a run at this. We just made some poor decisions and gave the ball back to them. They got some momentum and it continued to snowball.”

Seymour’s first field of the second half came with 6:40 left when Fritsch curled around a screen and knocked down a midrange jump shot.

Silcox knocked in the Owls’ first 3-pointer one minute later to cut BNL’s lead to eight. But Bedford was able to come up with key offensive rebounds and made all but one of their free throws down the stretch to defeat the Owls by 17.

Colten Leach led BNL with 20 points. Colton Staggs had 12, Noah Godlevske also had 12, Kaedyn Bennett had eight and Trace Rynders had two.

Manns gave a lot of credit to Leach and Staggs, who really controlled the pace of Friday night’s Hoosier Hills contest.

“I think first of all, give Bedford a lot of credit,” Manns said. “Give Leach a lot of credit and give Staggs a lot of credit. They did a good job leading the game and they had a plan.”

BNL improved to 7-5 overall and 2-1 in the HHC.

As for Seymour, the Owls fall to 4-9 overall and 1-4 in the conference. Johnson led Seymour in scoring with eight points, making two field goals and four free throws.

Fritsch, Longmeier, Perry and Silcox all had six points for the Owls, Meyer scored four and Josh Rennekamp had one.

Seymour will look to move past this performance with another game tonight at Scottsburg. Junior varsity tips at 6 p.m. with varsity to follow.

“Get yourself ready to play basketball the way it’s supposed to be played,” Manns said on the keys to the Scottsburg game. “I don’t think we played Owl basketball the way it was supposed to be played. I don’t think we played with the same assertiveness and aggressiveness that we’ve been playing with. That’s where it all starts. We have to play hard and be more aggressive on both ends of the floor.”