The Seymour boys basketball team went on an 11-0 run in the first minute of the second quarter and never looked back to win 40-36 over South Ripley on Saturday night at the Lloyd E. Scott Gymnasium.

Coach Kirk Manns said the Owls did a good job of executing their game plan by controlling the ball from the onset.

“We always want to control the tempo of the game,” he said. “We want to play the way that we want to play. We need to move the ball and get good shots. Our shot selection is very important.

“We did a nice job of that, but what we did a great job of in the first half was playing defense. We guarded very well, and we held them down. They’ve got some very skilled kids, and we did a great job in the first half of making them uncomfortable, pushing them out further than they wanted to be contesting shots and then we finished the possession with rebounds.”

Neither team could get any offense going for the first four and a half minutes of play, resulting in the game remaining scoreless.

Drew Vehslage finally made a 10-foot jumper with 3:12 on the clock to put the Owls in front to stay. Eric McCoy and Marcus Brooks added buckets for a 6-0 lead at the end of the period.

The Raiders missed all seven of their field goals attempts in the first period and their first four attempts of the second quarter.

The Owls shot 9-for-16 and the Raiders were 4-for-17 shooting in the first half. Seymour finished the game 17-for-32 and Ripley was 12-for-39.

McCoy, Andrew Levine and Montana Suits drove for baskets in the third period. Suits’ score put the Owls on top 29-16 with 40 seconds left in the quarter.

“I thought we really struggled against their 1-3-1 in the second half,” Manns said. “That is something we’ve got to do a better job of. It gave us some problems. They had some length out on top. They’ve got some long kids out there that gave us some problems, and that is something were going to have to work on.”

Those struggles came at the end of the third quarter and start of the fourth quarter, allowing the visitors to go on a 10-0 run to whittle down the Seymour lead to just three (29-26) with 4:52 remaining.

Brooks broke the drought for the Owls with a layup at 4:35, and Vehslage closed Seymour’s 8-2 run with a layup at 1:46 to put the Owls on top 36-28.

The visitors came right back with an 8-2 run of their own to close to 38-36 with 24 seconds remaining.

Casey Regruth and Goen made free throws in the final 22 seconds as the Owls improved to 7-11.

The Owls shot 8-for-16 from the floor in the second half, but Manns did not like that the Owls had 10 turnovers in the second half, including seven in the fourth period.

McCoy topped the Owls with 11 points, Vehslage scored nine, Brooks six, Levine four, Goen and Regruth chipped in three each and Suits and Landon Fritsch netted two each.

The loss snapped a four-game win streak for the Raiders (11-7).

Eli Meyer scored 17 and Dylan Fields 13 to help the Seymour junior varsity to a 52-39 win. Brandon Kleber scored nine, Charlie Longmeier had six, Coltin Wetzel scored four and Donoyvn Thomas had three.

The Owls will travel to Greensburg on Tuesday night.