For The Tribune

The Seymour boys basketball team celebrated their homecoming Friday night with a 68-65 Hoosier Hills Conference win against Bedford North Lawrence.

Seymour outscored Bedford North Lawrence 15-12 over the final 3:29 to bring their HHC record to 2-3 and their season mark to 5-8.

The Owls were leading 62-59 when Allan Perry and Jordan Miller combined for four free throws in a 30 second span to go up 66-59.

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The Owls got off to one of their best starts of the season and held a 17-11 lead at the end of the opening quarter.

“Off the top of my head, it was one of our best if not our best first quarter,” Owls Coach Tyler Phillips said. “We came out and executed and played with a purpose and that is what we got to have every night.”

Seymour built its lead on the strength of its outside game as Tyler Bloom hit three 3-pointers, Alan Perry added a ‘3’ and Miller and Dylan Wilson added baskets inside.

The Owls cooled off from the field and committed enough fouls to allow the Stars to shoot 10 free throws in the second period, making five, cutting Seymour’s lead to 25-21.

Ty McCory hit two 3-pointers in the final 1:12 to spark the Owls to a 31-22 lead at the half.

The Owls shot 6-for-9 and 6-for-14 from the floor in the first half, while the Stars made 6 of 20.

The Stars shot 11 free throws in the first half and the Owls shot two.

Seymour took its first double-digit lead of the game when Tiller Cummings converted a three-point play at 6:22 of the third quarter to make it 34-22.

Cummings converted another three-point play at 4:33 to give the Owls a 41-27 lead. The Stars sparked by four 3-pointers by Jathan Ritter to cut Seymour’s lead to 51-47 at the end of the third quarter.

The game was tied at 50-50 and at 53-53 before the Owls went on a 6-0 run with Bloom’s 3-pointer putting the Owls on top 59-53 with 3:49 remaining.

Phillips said he was pleased with the way the Owls responded after the Stars tied the game.

“That’s the kids they have been in those games all season and they just didn’t panic,” he said. “We got a saying nothing bad can happen to us when we have the basketball. They hit a big shot now let’s make one of our own.

“We came down and ran our offense, Perry drove and made a kid commit and kicked to McCory and he buried the three. These kids have been prepared for these situations and have been in them enough to know what to do.”

Bloom topped the Owls with 20 points, Perry scored 17, and Cummings scored 11 and had six rebounds.

The Stars (6-9, 2-1 HHC) had scoring balance with Ritter scoring 17, McCall Ray with 14 and Isaiah Stockman at 13.

The Owls had only 10 turnovers, and Phillips said that is the kids being coachable and then “I told them to win the game you must be coachable.”

Tonight, the Owls will travel to Scottsburg for a girl-boy doubleheader.