By Justin Sokeland
WBIW.com
JASPER – What can happen in five minutes? For the average person at rest, the heart beats about 400 times, the lungs inhale approximately 75 times, most people blink about 100 times, and an automobile (without breaking the posted speed limit too much) can travel five miles.
The worst that can happen in the same time span? The heart stops, air is cut off, the eyes close, the car crashes.
On the basketball court, five minutes can be an eternity. That’s what it seemed like when Bedford North Lawrence went that long without scoring to begin the second half at Jasper. With the points flow – the life blood of any team – shut off, the Stars turned blue without offensive oxygen as the Wildcats clawed to a victory in the regular-season finale.
Jasper opened the third quarter with 13 straight points, turning a potential battle into a runaway while celebrating its Senior Night with a 67-48 triumph on Thursday night. Bringing their usual starters off the bench while putting the seniors in the spotlight, Jasper’s best did the worst damage during the deciding run.
Jaylen Maners scored 16 points, Riley Foy didn’t miss a shot while totaling 14, and Parker Erny added 10. They didn’t play during the opening quarter, when Jasper unleashed its long-range guns to take an early lead, but they were the catalysts during the third-period burst that doomed the Stars (6-16).
BNL had done such good work, exploding with a 14-4 blast to scramble within 31-27 at intermission. Then the Stars missed their first seven shots of the second half, and there was no recovery.
“A tale of two halves,” BNL coach Jackson Ryan said. “That seems to be us, three of the last four games. We just let things snowball.
“We let a turnover lead to a mental lapse defensively, lead to a questionable shot, lead to scrambling to get back on defense. We can survive a possession here or there, but three or four in a row, we’re not built to withstand that. Coming together and stopping that quicker is what we have to do.”
While BNL struggled, Jasper took off. Maners scored from inside, then rebounded his own miss for another. Foy converted a steal into a breakaway, and Maners worked the post for a 3-point play and 44-27 advantage. Gibson Crane finally ended the drought with a baseline bucket, but BNL never got back to single digits.
The Wildcats (14-8) buried five treys, a little out of character, for a fast 17-7 lead, but the point of emphasis shifted from outside to inside in the second half.
“We got after them at halftime about the 3-pointers,” Jasper coach John Goebel said. “Some of them went down early, and I think we thought it would continue. We just made a better determination to move the ball and get inside first.
”Sometimes, when that happens, it’s a good thing because you get off to a good start, it creates momentum. But then you think it will be that easy all night long. When those shots quit falling, you have to adjust. We were slow to do that.”
BNL’s best moments came after Jasper opened a 27-13 lead. Ben Conner swished a corner bomb, and Dax Short went nuclear with a 15-foot fade, a wing trey, and a 12-footer on the baseline that got the Stars within 29-25.
”We played well, and mixing it up defensively was good,” Ryan said. “In the second half, we gave up some easy buckets.”
Short finished with a career-high 24 points, including 16 in the first half. Crane totaled 12 points. BNL was missing starting guard Parker Kern, who was home with an illness.
“Short is an awfully talented player,” Goebel said. “He played very hard, he was spilling his guts, he carried them offensively.”
Both teams will now focus on the postseason. BNL will await the New Albany-Scottsburg winner in the Class 4A sectional semifinal at Seymour on March 6.
BEDFORD NL STARS (48)
3s FGs FTs R F Pts
24 Gibson Crane, f 0-1 4-8 4-4 2 4 12
10 Easton Moore, f 0-3 0-4 0-0 4 0 0
5 Dax Short, g 2-6 9-19 4-4 1 4 24
23 Jett Alvey, g 0-1 1-2 1-1 2 1 3
2 Driven Axsom, g 0-2 1-5 0-0 2 3 2
40 Ben Conner 1-1 2-4 0-2 4 5 5
12 Dayson Kirby 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1 0
11 Jace Nicholson 0-1 1-2 0-0 2 0 2
Totals 3-15 18-43 9-11 17 18 48
JASPER WILDCATS (67)
3s FGs FTs R F Pts
31 Levin Clauss, f 0-1 0-2 1-2 7 1 1
35 Kash Kendall, f 1-2 3-4 0-0 3 0 7
11 Keyan LeMond, g 2-6 2-6 1-2 0 0 7
15 Jack Levin, g 1-1 3-3 2-2 1 1 9
33 Ethan Thornburgh, g 1-2 1-2 0-0 2 0 3
5 Logan Day 0-4 0-5 0-0 2 1 0
13 Max Bueltel 0-2 0-3 0-0 3 3 0
51 Jaylen Maners 0-0 5-9 6-7 8 1 16
3 Riley Foy 2-2 5-5 2-2 1 2 14
25 Parker Erny 0-0 4-8 2-3 2 1 10
Totals 7-20 23-47 14-18 31 10 67
Bedford NL 9 18 7 14 – 48
Jasper 17 14 18 18 – 67
Turnovers – BNL 10, Jasper 11
Field goal percentage – BNL 18-43 (.419); Jasper 23-47 (.489)
Free throw percentage – BNL 9-11 (.818) Jasper 14-18 (.778)
