Jeffersonville too quick for Seymour

After the first period of Tuesday night’s Class 4A Sectional battle with Jeffersonville, Seymour coach Scott Miller had a good feeling about his team.

The Owls, in shooting 6-for-13 from the floor, battled the Red Devils on nearly even terms, trailing 18-14 as time expired. Miller said his team missed some scoring opportunities and could have been tied or ahead.

“We left some opportunities out there,” he said. “We had a couple key plays in the first half that kind of separated us a little bit. It went from eight to 12 real fast, and we just couldn’t quite recover. The third quarter, they just took it to us.”

The second period was a pivotal quarter as the Red Devils outscored the Owls 22-7 to take a 40-21 lead at the half and won 75-51.

Miller was concerned about Jeffersonville’s quickness, and that turned out to be a big factor.

“Athletically, they dominated this game,” he said. “They got in the lane, got by us, jumped over us. They were pretty good tonight.”

The Red Devils had seven or more field goals and 17 or more points in every period and shot 31-for-63 from the floor.

“It wasn’t as much about turnovers as it was about not knocking down the shots we had,” Miller said. “We had about 12 of them that we had to retrieve from the stands, and rebounding-wise they just killed us. They cut in the lane so well and so fast, and that just broke us down and we couldn’t recover. When you get down to a team that athletic, it’s hard to come back.”

The Red Devils scored the first two baskets to lead all the way, although a 3-pointer by Jacob Carmichael from the left wing left the Owls down 14-12 with 1:20 left in the first period, and a 6-footer by Connor Kirtley cut Jeff’s lead to 16-14 with 45 seconds left.

Kirtley opened the scoring in the second period with a layup to make it 18-16. Jeff then went on a 13-0 run and stretched its lead to 31-16 at the 4-minute mark.

Kirtley scored on a putback at 3:30 for a 31-18 score, but the Red Devils used another strong run to boost their lead to 40-21 at the break.

Jeff increased its lead to 50-28 on a basket by Anthony Adams at 5:10 of the third period.

Matt Trimnell then hit a 3-pointer, Nolan Fife scored a pair of free throws and after a basket by the Red Devils, Kirtley scored from close range and Zach Toppe added two more free throws for a 52-37 score at 2:28.

That was as close as the Owls could get as the Red Devils closed the period on a 6-0 run to lead 58-37 going into the final period.

Trimnell scored 21 points and finished his career with 1,298 points for fifth place on Seymour’s career list.

Kirtley added 10 points and six rebounds.

Jeffersonville had a strong 1-2 punch with Adams scoring 20 on 10-for-14 shooting and Evan Maschmeyer adding 19, including 6-for-6 in free throws.

The Red Devils held a 30-23 margin in rebounds with Adams pulling down eight.

Jeffersonville (18-4) advances to the 6 p.m. game on Friday against Bedford North Lawrence. Floyd Central defeated Jennings County 56-50 in the second game on Tuesday night and will play New Albany in the second game on Friday night.

The Owls finished 10-10.

Miller had a lot of praise for his five seniors, Trimnell, Toppe, Fife, Jase Hunnicutt and Mitch Hunnicutt.

“It’s the hardest group I’ve ever seen go,” Miller said. “I’ve been coaching in some capicity since 1987, been a head coach for 15 years, and as a group I’ve never had one that I’ve been this close to. It’s the hardest discussion I’ve ever had.”

Box score

Class 4A Sectional 15 at Seymour
Seymour        14 7   16 14—51
Jeffersonville 18 22 18 17—75
Seymour (10-10): Zach Toppe 0-5 5-6 5, Nolan Fife 1-8 2-2 5, Matt Trimnell 6-10 6-7 21, Connor Kirtley 5-8 0-0 10, Jacob Carmichael 2-9 3-4 8, Jase Hunnicutt 0-4 0-0 0, Mitch Hunnicutt 1-2 0-0 2, Josh Joray 0-0 0-0 0, Kyle Fellows 0-1 0-0 0, Evan Beach 0-1 0-0 0, Canyon Dailey 0-1 0-0 0, Grant Hubbard 0-0 0-2 0, totals 15-49 16-21 51
Jeffersonville (18-4): Drake Coleman 1-7 2-2 5, Clark Lawrence 3-7 0-0 7, Vernon Billups 4-8 0-0 8, Evan Maschmeyer 6-9 6-6 19, Anthony Adams 10-14 0-0 20, Tyrone Williams 2-8 0-0 5, Jordan Ellis 4-5 0-0 8, Dominique Catlett 1-1 1-2 3, Jonathan Ellis 0-1 0-0 0, Jason Jackson 0-1 0-0 0, Bryce Kinnaird 0-1 0-0 0, Trice Whaley 0-1 0-0 0, totals 31-63 9-10 75
3-point goals: Seymour (Trimnell 3, Carmichael, Fife), Jeffersonville (Coleman, Clark, Maschmeyer, Williams)
Rebounds: Seymour 23 (Kirtley 6, Trimnell 5), Jeffersonville 30 (Adams 8, Clark 6)
Turnovers: Seymour 18, Jeffersonville 12
Fouls: Seymour 14, Jeffersonville 19 (fouled out: Clark)