By Justin Sokeland
WBIW.com
BEDFORD – In medieval lore, knights slew dragons. In German legend, Siegfried was the hero who killed the fiery Fafnir for its treasure. In Saxon tales, Beowulf was the mythical conqueror. Unfortunately, in the real-life world of basketball, Bedford North Lawrence was not impervious to the flames, the chinks in the armor were revealed.
These Dragons devoured their prey.
Silver Creek, ranked No.2 in Class 3A, left charred remains in BNL Fieldhouse on Saturday night, burning its way to a 62-32 victory over the Stars on Saturday night. Turnovers fueled the fires, as the Dragons converted mistakes into slams, torching BNL with a 26-2 blast in the middle quarters en route to a mercy-rule triumph.
BNL (1-4) needed a near-perfect performance to compete with the powerful Dragons and add to the list of slayers. That did not happen. Silver Creek squashed any chance of a stunning upset with its devastating burst. At one point in the third quarter, BNL’s point total barely eclipsed its turnover total. Silver Creek triggered the running clock midway through the fourth.
Silver Creek (7-0) had plenty of scoring power, with three Div. I recruits at its disposal, but the stark difference was on the other end. The Stars had 17 turnovers during the first quarter quarters, and the Dragons took advantage of those miscues. Runouts to rattle the rim, fast-break layups where the ball was moving faster than a comet.
“They put so much pressure on you in transition, the 17 feels like 34 turnovers,” BNL coach Jackson Ryan said. “When they’re live-ball turnovers, when you have those weapons running at you 100 miles an hour, running the floor and spreading things out, you’re putting yourself in a bind. You have to take care of the basketball.”
That played out from the opening possessions. BNL’s first two trips ended with turnovers and baskets on the other end, including a dunk by Dane Caldwell for a quick 7-0 lead in 63 seconds. After that shaky start, the Stars settled into a rhythm as Dax Short swished a trey, Easton Moore worked loose for a layup, and Moore swished a bomb that got BNL within 19-12 early in the second quarter.
Then the Dragons erupted. BNL didn’t score again until the 1:56 mark, by then the deficit was 20. When Silver Creek started the second half with another Caldwell two-handed crunch and Kasen Daeger’s transition cut for a layup, the gap was 45-14. The mercy rule was inevitable.
“We were dialed in early defensively, that got us a little run at the beginning of the game,” Silver Creek coach Brandon Hoffman said. “Then in the second quarter, we turned them over quite a bit with our length and athleticism. That led to some easy buckets.
“We’ve played good in spurts, then take the foot off the gas mentally. Play good for four minutes, just average for two minutes. We’re working on extending those good spurts. We were better at that tonight.”
Caldwell, a Richmond recruit, paced Silver Creek with 15 points, Dane Sprigler added 11 (all in the first quarter), and Brody McLaughlin totaled 9.
“You have to pick your poison, you have to give up something,” Ryan said. “We dared Caldwell to make some shots, and he did. That’s why they’re No.2 in 3A.”
“Everybody ate tonight,” Hoffman said. “That’s the strength of our team, having multiple scorers and weapons.”
Short was BNL’s only constant threat with 18 points while Moore totaled 7 off the bench. Everyone else combined for only three baskets. The Stars hit only 11 of 34 shots. Adding the turnovers into the equation, that’s a bad combination.
“If we’re going to win tight games, which is what we have to do to be successful, we have to take care of it,” Ryan said.
BNL will now take a lengthy break before returning to action following the calendar flip for the new year.
”Our first three games we were outmatched, and there was some finger pointing,” Ryan said. “I didn’t see that tonight. We’re getting there, slowly but surely. When you play the schedule we have so far, those things get magnified even more.
”The layoff is coming at a great time. For us, our margin for error is just razor thin. Everything we do has to be the most important thing in the history of the BNL program, whether it’s a shoot-around or two hours of practice. If we can have that sense of urgency, compete in everything we do, we will grow.”
BNL will participate in the Southridge Tournament on Jan. 2-3, facing South Ripley and Southridge during the first day of pool play.
SILVER CREEK DRAGONS (62)
3s FGs FTs R F Pts
14 Brody McLaughlin, f 0-0 4-6 1-1 4 0 9
22 Dane Caldwell, c 1-3 6-9 2-2 2 2 15
3 Kasen Daeger, g 1-2 2-4 0-0 5 0 5
12 Brandon Hunter, g 2-3 3-4 0-0 1 1 8
2 Dane Sprigler, g 2-5 4-7 1-1 2 1 11
13 Donovan Whitehead 0-0 0-1 1-2 3 2 1
5 Lucas Linderman 0-0 3-4 1-1 4 0 7
0 Jerron Miles 0-4 0-4 0-0 1 0 0
33 Evan Renn 2-2 2-2 0-0 0 0 6
11 Jude Michael 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
20 Aiden Makun 0-0 0-1 0-0 0 1 0
30 Brody Oliver 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1 0
40 Brady Anderson 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
42 Cash Richardson 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Totals 8-19 24-42 6-7 23 8 62
BEDFORD NL STARS (32)
3s FGs FTs R F Pts
40 Ben Conner, f 0-1 1-2 0-0 3 4 2
24 Gibson Crane, f 0-0 1-4 0-0 2 2 2
5 Dax Short, g 3-7 6-16 3-3 4 3 18
1 Parker Kern, g 0-1 1-4 0-0 2 0 3
11 Jace Nicholson, g 0-1 0-2 0-0 0 0 0
2 Driven Axsom 0-2 0-2 0-0 2 3 0
12 Dayson Kirby 0-1 0-1 0-0 0 0 0
10 Easton Moore 1-2 2-3 2-2 3 1 7
23 Jett Alvey 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
22 Garrett Chaillaux 0-0 0-0 0-0 1 0 0
20 Jack Parsons 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Totals 5-15 11-34 5-5 17 13 32
Silver Creek 16 20 16 10 – 62
Bedford NL 9 5 7 11 – 32
Turnovers – Silver Creek 11, BNL 17
Field goal percentage – Silver Creek 24-42 (.571); BNL 11-34 (.324)
Free throw percentage – Silver Creek 6-7 (.857); BNL 5-5 (1.000)
