By Justin Sokeland
WBIW.com
BLOOMFIELD – For victory No.1, Bedford North Lawrence conquered No.1.
Nothing heals so many ills and problems like winning, and the Stars definitely needed a strong prescription. Whatever the mental malady – frustration, anxiety, fear, worry, grumbling – this was just what the basketball doctor ordered. Give ‘em the news, BNL had a bad case of losing. That was the cure.
Like the wounded animal in the corner, BNL attacked with a new ferocity, with changed mindset, with a stunning reversal of results. The Stars, on the brink of unwanted history, vented everything on Class A No.1 Bloomfield.
Making its first trip to Glover Gymnasium in 15 years, BNL might not get invited back after surprising the Cardinals 53-43 on Wednesday night. Dax Short led a balanced, efficient, flowing offense with 13 points as the Stars (1-3) posted the first win for new head coach Jackson Ryan, whose celebratory fist pump was followed by a smile of relief.
Ryan was about one more defensive implosion from the psychiatrist couch. BNL was allowing a 75.7 points per game, simply unacceptable, and facing one of the top scorers in the state in Bloomfield star Blake Neill. Whatever pill the Stars took to fix that needs to be bottled and patented.
“Honestly, winning is awesome, but not losing . . . “ Ryan said, hinting at which was more valuable at this point. “The pressure we’ve had, and just wanting to play well. We haven’t played up to our standard, the BNL standard.”
Call this an upset? On paper, yes. The Cardinals (3-1) were favored, but BNL never trailed. The Stars dictated tempo with purpose on offense. Ball movement created openings. On the other end, they swarmed on Neill like flies on a smelly trash can. He was averaging 31.3, so holding him to 14 was remarkable work.
”The kids worked like dogs in practice, especially defensively, to get things where they wanted to be,” Ryan said. “To hold a team like that, to keep them in check – especially a talent like Blake Neill – speaks to our effort. When everybody buys in, whether it’s basketball or the classroom, or the community, everybody is rowing the same direction, everyone is on the bus, good things happen.”
BNL’s transformation was evident immediately as the Stars bolted to an 8-1 lead, with Gibson Crane scoring twice. Bloomfield didn’t record its first basket until the 2:15 mark. In the second quarter, the Stars created space with Short’s corner trey and Easton Moore’s layup off a Crane connection for an 18-8 advantage, and Jace Nicholson’s rebound bucket sent them to intermission with a 24-13 lead.
Bloomfield made a brief move, with Ashton Pace popping a trey that trimmed the deficit to 26-20, but Crane answered with a layup off a Short pass and Nicholson buried a wing bomb. In the fourth quarter, the Cardinals again scrambled within six (37-31) when Neill crashed the baseline for a slam, but Moore swished a corner trey and Parker Kern connected from deep to thwart that run. The Stars went old-school from there, capping the win at the foul line during the final three minutes.
Speaking of the line, that’s a sore subject for the Cardinals. They were inexplicably 6 of 17 from there, while the Stars were a sharp 15 of 17.
“We left a lot of points at the free-throw line,” Bloomfield coach Nate O’Neall said. “We’ve had a mental thing with free throws the last few games. There’s no excuses and remedies for that. At the end of the day, you have to be mentally focused.“
In addition to Short, Crane totaled a career-high 12 points – after totaling 13 all last season – while Moore and Nicholson added 9 each. Moore and Short also totaled 6 boards each as BNL won that stat by a 33-25 margin.
“If we’re getting this Gibson Crane, it takes us to another level,” Ryan said. “In the past, he hasn’t had to score or be aggressive. For us to be successful, we need what we saw. Dax did a phenomenal job, I was really proud of him on both ends of the floor. He’s been really frustrated. He stepped up.“
Crane just shrugged his shoulders – and those are big shoulders on the All-State defensive end in football – as he adjusts to his new role as an offensive option. “We’ve been on him the hardest,” Short said. “We told him you’re the biggest kid out there, no one can stop you.”
”Dax got me so open, that’s how I scored all my points,” he said.
Neill added 9 boards to his scoring total, while Pace finished with 11 points. Bloomfield committed only four turnovers but shot a tepid percentage (16 of 49).
“I don’t care if they were 0-3,” O’Neall said. “Look at the teams they played. It was going to be different. Rebuild on not, it was 4A athletes and they gave us everything we wanted. They gave Blake everything he wanted.”
The impact of the win on BNL’s psyche cannot be overstated. “We definitely needed this,” Crane said. “We were down on ourselves.”
“I know they were disappointed, I know they were hungry,” Ryan said. “That showed. Hopefully we can take this and build on it. This is the expectation, this is how we play. If we play like this, we give ourselves a chance. Win or lose, for the kids to be rewarded for playing like that, that’s icing on the cake.
“We love each other off the court, but it’s loving each other on the court,” Short concluded. “We’re coming together as one. Communication was the biggest part.”
BNL will have little time to celebrate. The Stars will host Columbus East in their Hoosier Hills Conference opener on Friday.
BEDFORD NL STARS (53)
3s FGs FTs R F Pts
40 Ben Conner, f 0-0 0-4 0-0 3 2 0
24 Gibson Crane, f 0-0 5-8 2-2 5 4 12
5 Dax Short, g 1-2 3-5 6-7 6 1 13
1 Parker Kern, g 1-3 3-7 0-0 3 4 7
11 Jace Nicholson, g 1-3 3-5 2-2 4 1 9
2 Driven Axsom 0-1 0-1 3-4 2 3 3
12 Dayson Kirby 0-0 0-0 0-0 2 1 0
10 Easton Moore 1-3 3-6 2-2 6 0 9
Totals 4-12 17-36 15-17 33 16 53
BLOOMFIELD CARDINALS (43)
3s FGs FTs R F Pts
30 Owen Medina, f 0-0 1-4 0-0 1 0 2
3 Blake Neill, f 1-4 5-15 3-10 9 1 14
23 Ashton Pace, g 2-9 4-9 1-2 4 4 11
10 Tyler Patterson, g 0-5 3-13 1-4 9 3 7
2 Will Dowden 1-1 2-3 1-1 3 1 6
20 Braxton Shields 0-0 0-1 0-0 0 4 0
44 Camerson Branstetter 1-4 1-4 0-0 0 4 3
Totals 5-18 16-49 6-17 25 17 43
Bedford NL 10 14 9 20 – 53
Bloomfield 6 7 10 20 – 43
Turnovers – BNL 11, Bloomfield 4
Field goal percentage – BNL 17-36 (.472); Bloomfield 16-49 (.327)
Free throw percentage – BNL 15-17 (.882); Bloomfield 6-17 (.353)
