For The Tribune
AUSTIN
Tyler Bloom came out shooting red hot at the start of the third quarter, making five 3-pointers, to help the Owls break open a close game and go on to a 69-55 win.
Bloom finished with seven 3-pointers and a career-high 28 points for the Owls (8-12).
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“Tyler is just a pure shooter,” Owls coach Tyler Phillips said. “He’s not going to miss all night. You’re not going to catch him on a night where he’s cold, and they saw that in the third quarter.”
Both teams started out cold resulting in a 4-4 score after five minutes of play.
The Eagles (7-14) held an 8-6 lead before Bloom made a 3-pointer and Tiller Cummings a layup to put the Owls on top 11-8 at the end of the period. Cummings had six points and three defensive rebounds in the period.
Cummings and Bloom combined for five points to boost Seymour’s lead to 16-10 halfway through the second period and the Owls were on top 26-23 at the half.
Bloom had nine points in the second period and 11 for the half, and Cummings added eight points in the half, while Conner Smith had eight points to lead the Eagles at halftime.
Seymour shot 8-for-20 and Austin made 9 of 24 at the break.
The Owls outscored the Eagles 27-15 in the third quarter to lead 53-38 going into the fourth quarter.
The closest Austin came in the fourth quarter was 12 points.
“We were worried about the defensive end,” Phillips said. “We felt like we let them stick around because we didn’t rebound and we would make silly turnovers.
“We felt like they were in the game because we allowed them to stay in it in the first half. We talked about us, we fixed us and in the second half we did a much better job of that.”
Alan Perry finished with 16 points and 8 assists and Cummings added 11 points.
“At half time, (Perry) had four points and an assist and he finished with 18 and 8, Phillips said. “Bloom goes out in the third quarter and scores 23. It’s a pick your poison type of thing.
“If you go zone, Tyler is going to shoot you out of it and if you go man, Alan finds a way to make plays, and I thought Jordan Miller did that well tonight, too. I thought it was a complete team effort. Everybody did a great job.”
Alex Hofer topped the Owls with seven rebounds. Smith was high scorer for the Eagles with 17 points.