By Justin Sokeland
WBIW.com
BEDFORD – Want to get away? That’s a famous advertising campaign for Southwest Airlines, offering an escape from embarrassing situations or awkward blunders. Bedford North Lawrence knows exactly how that feels. If any seats had been available for the last flight out of town following the latest road trip, the bags were packed.
Fortunately, that reservation was cancelled. The Stars did not pack it in. Don’t like the view from the window? Change the scenery. Winning looks a lot better from the ground, compared to the crash site from the last performance.
This could be the biggest turnaround ever. From a 33-point, 34-turnover loss to a 20-point triumph.
BNL senior Dax Short labeled the mindset as “tired.” Not physically fatigued, but emotionally exhausted from a devastating defeat at Jeffersonville. So the Stars took out their frustrations, and earned some small revenge from the loss that ended the football campaign, with a beat-down victory over Martinsville.
Spurred by sensational defense during the first 12 minutes, BNL blasted to a 66-46 win over the Artesians on Tuesday night. Easton Moore highlighted a balanced offense with 15 points as the Stars (6-12) led wire-to-wire while allowing only one basket during the first 12 minutes. That jet burst powered BNL to a 22-5 lead and a win that rewrites the definition for resilience.
How does a team recover from a 75-42 mess of a loss in such a short time span?
“We came together,” Short said. “We were tired of it looking like this, tired of being the team everyone was doubting. So we worked our best, played with each other, let the coaches teach us the best plays. It just showed.”
What showed was some of BNL’s best sustained minutes of the season. While Martinsville (7-14) missed its first 10 shots, and recorded its only bucket during the first 12 minutes off a steal for a breakaway, the Stars found their offensive footing. Moore converted a rebound, Short swished a trey, and Gibson Crane hammered inside for two buckets and an 11-2 lead at the first stop.
BNL extended its lead with sizzling shooting. Jace Nicholson and Short drilled corner bombs and Moore swooped through traffic with a behind-the-back move on his way to a 3-point play for the 22-5 difference. The Stars were 5 for 5 from long range in the second quarter en route to a 33-17 advantage.
”That set the tone for us,” BNL coach Jackson Ryan said. “That was just huge, on both ends. When we can focus defensively, and make teams come after us and chase us, it just makes things so much easier. The shots are open, versus contested and forcing things. I was very proud, top to bottom, of setting the tone defensively and playing unselfishly on offense.”
Martinsville made one run. Trailing 49-31, the Artesians battled back with 10 straight points, with Carson Robertson scoring twice, with Ty Stroud slashing to a layup, with Gavin Nelson grabbing an offensive rebound for a basket. BNL quelled that rally with Parker Kern’s drive through the lane and another Crane post bucket. The Stars scored the final 10 points to pull away.
BNL’s balance was noteworthy. In addition to Moore, Short totaled 14 points, while Crane (5 for 5 from the floor) and Kern finished with 12 each. Nicholson almost made it a quintet with 9 points. BNL matched its season high in points.
“It was just making the right play,” Ryan said. “When the ball is moving, it’s contagious. We saw a lot of that.”
Martinsville never really recovered from the bad start. Robertson totaled 14 points while Grady Gardner and Alex Stout added 11 each. The Artesians were watered down while hitting only 17 of 52 shots.
“That’s a good stat,” Short said. “We bought into the defensive side of things. On offense, we struggle here and there. But on defense, we have to get stops and finish possessions. We did a really good job of that all night. Those first few minutes, we did a really good job.”
“Rough start,” said Martinsville coach Jackson Williams, who kept the Artesians in the postgame locker room for a lengthy discussion that dragged on while the custodians did their cleaning work inside the empty BNL Fieldhouse. “We tried to recover, but it didn’t go so hot for us. The kids did a good job of clawing back, got it to single digits. It’s just one of those things where we can’t start that way. We have to come mentally locked in for 32 minutes. It makes it tough to play from behind. Everything has to go perfect.”
BNL recorded its fourth straight win in the series.
“We were locked in,” Ryan said. “We have a ton of football guys and this was very important for them. There’s a little bit of a rivalry there, our guys had a chip on their shoulder.”
The Stars will visit New Albany on Friday night.
MARTINSVILLE ARTESIANS (46)
3s FGs FTs R F Pts
10 Alex Stout, f 0-2 5-12 1-1 8 1 11
5 Grady Gardner, g 2-7 3-14 3-4 2 5 11
20 Carson Robertson, g 1-4 4-12 5-8 4 4 14
30 Mason Dodson, g 0-2 0-4 0-0 3 4 0
3 Ty Stroud, g 0-0 4-4 0-0 4 3 8
12 Gavin Nelson 0-2 1-4 0-0 3 3 2
42 Colton VanCleave 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 2 0
24 Lucas Toloday 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1 0
33 Jacob Toloday 0-1 0-1 0-0 0 0 0
4 Mason Brummett 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
14 Isaac Gillum 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
40 Laben Cross 0-0 0-1 0-0 1 0 0
Totals 3-18 17-52 9-13 26 23 46
BEDFORD NL STARS (66)
3s FGs FTs R F Pts
24 Gibson Crane, f 0-0 5-5 2-5 6 4 12
10 Easton Moore, f 2-3 5-9 3-3 5 1 15
5 Dax Short, g 2-4 3-8 6-6 5 3 14
1 Parker Kern, g 1-3 4-9 3-4 6 3 12
2 Driven Axsom, g 1-4 1-4 0-0 1 2 3
11 Jace Nicholson 3-4 3-5 0-0 1 1 9
40 Ben Conner 0-0 0-0 0-0 3 1 0
12 Dayson Kirby 0-0 0-0 0-0 1 1 0
23 Jett Alvey 0-0 0-1 1-2 0 2 1
22 Garrett Chaillaux 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Totals 9-18 21-41 15-22 30 18 66
Martinsville 2 15 14 15 – 46
Bedford NL 11 22 14 19 – 66
Turnovers – Martinsville 14, BNL 18
Field goal percentage – Martinsville 17-52 (.327); BNL 21-41 (.512)
Free throw percentage – Martinsville 9-13 (.692); BNL 15-22 (.682)
