Turnovers, offensive rebounds, and scoring droughts plagued the Seabury Academy boys basketball team Tuesday night in a season-opening 55-23 loss to the Hyman Brand Rams.

The Seahawks got down early in the first quarter, thanks to a 12-0 run by the Rams. That run helped Hyman Brand build a 18-6 lead at the end of the quarter.

“Every time we did make a run, we would throw the ball away or something would happen,” first-year Seabury coach Matthew Downing Jr., said. “I don’t think that we really got frustrated to the fact that we got upset at ourselves. We just were not in the right places at the right time.”

The deficit shrunk to eight at the beginning of the third quarter, but that would be as close as Seabury would come, with Hyman Brand ending the frame on a 10-0 run.

“Nothing worked,” said senior Max Cannon, who had a team-high seven points. “When we had an open shot we couldn’t hit it. We couldn’t stop them. We couldn’t get a rebound.”

Hyman Brand clogged the passing lanes, which led to turnovers and fast-break points.

“I think we made more mistakes than what they caused,” Downing said. “Most of our mistakes were caused by our own mental lapses and our own impatience, more than the pressure. We pressure each other every day in practice, but it is hard to simulate a game situation in practice.”

Seabury switched from a zone defense to man-to-man once the deficit reached double digits.

SEABURY ACADEMY's MOLLY THURMAN stretches above a teammate and two Hyman Brand defenders to snag a rebound. The Seahawks fell, 64-26, in their season opener Tuesday on their home court.

“Sometimes, they were just stronger than us physically,” Downing said. “I think sometimes that caused us to shy away from the ball or shy away from the contact. We just have to implement some things in our program that are going to give our boys an opportunity to be successful by being stronger.”

Seabury was scheduled to play three games last weekend in the Seabury Invitational, but those games were canceled due to inclement weather.

“We didn’t have time to put in some of our new plays, so we didn’t really have anything to counter their defense,” Cannon said.

In the earlier game, the Seabury girls had similar problems against Hyman Brand in a 64-26 loss.

The Seahawks were unable to get into any offensive rhythm, and the Rams were able to pick off passes that led to easy lay-ups at the other end.

“If we are going to do anything this year we are definitely going to have to take care of the ball,” Seabury coach Nick Taylor said. “We are so scared when we get the ball. We need to be strong with the ball and not so lackadaisical. It is frustrating, but we will learn from it and get better.”

Seabury (0-1) had planned to get the ball inside to its tall post players, senior Molly Thurman and sophomore Melissa Burch, but a zone defense by Hyman Brand made it difficult for inside points.

“If we get the ball inside as much as we can, we will be a lot better,” Taylor said. “I really think that our post play is going to be big this year. If we can get our post going and the guards can get our post the ball, we are going to be a lot better.”

Thurman finished with just six points, while Burch scored two.

Sophomore Bria Phipps was the lone bright spot for the Seahawks offensively, scoring a team-high 12 points.

Phipps said the team can learn from its mistakes.

“It was just good that we got a lot of shots off, even if all of them didn’t get in,” Phipps said. “We can’t make any of them if we don’t get it off in the first place.”

Junior Abby Sechrist scored a game-high 23 points off the bench for the Rams.

The Seabury boys and girls will face University Academy on Friday.

Boys

HYMAN BRAND 55, SEABURY ACADEMY 23

Hyman Brand 18 6 14 17 – 55

Seabury Academy 6 7 5 5 – 23

Hyman Brand – King 13, Lipsky 2, Gutovitz 14, Bratt 15, Marks 9, Friedman 2.

Seabury Academy – Stuart 5, Cannon 7, King 7, Butler 2, Gutierrez 2.

Girls

HYMAN BRAND 64, SEABURY ACADEMY 26

Hyman Brand 8 16 27 13 – 64

Seabury Academy 6 6 4 10 – 26

Hyman Brand – Coppaken 12, Towle 7, Sechrist 23, Gutovitz 12, Rubenstein 2, Berger 6, Heisler 2.

Seabury Academy – Thurman 6, Crawford 2, Burch 2, Frizell 2, Phipps 12, Dillon 2.