By Justin Sokeland
WBIW.com
JEFFERSONVILLE – Bedford North Lawrence giveth, Jeffersonville taketh away. And there was nothing blessed about it.
With turnovers cluttering the court at Johnson Arena like litter on the roadways, Jeffersonville swept up the mess and turned trash into treasure, converting a dumpster full of BNL mistakes into uncontested breakaway baskets and a blowout victory.
The Red Devils, offensively challenged as they sought consistency during their Class 4A state championship defense, discovered the truth behind the cliche: the best offense is a good defense. They translated that into a 75-42 torching of the Stars while ending their three-game losing streak on Friday night.
While the Devils (7-11 overall, 3-2 in the Hoosier Hills Conference) scored their most points this season by a considerable margin, the real statistical story was turnovers. BNL (5-12, 1-4) was guilty of 34, certainly an unacceptable total considering the proud past of a program built on fundamentals. It’s not clear if that’s a dubious record, and it’s not one to be trumpeted. Jeffersonville coach Sherron Wilkerson guessed less than 25 percent of his offense came from halfcourt sets. That means Jeff’s points off turnovers was devastating.
”That was the game plan,” Wilkerson said. “We’re trying to create an identity with our depth, and you can pressure the ball a little bit doing that, make them make plays off the bounce. We figured, if we sped them up and made them put it on the floor, it plays to us.
“Our point of emphasis was to make sure we got turnovers. It’s the most points we’ve scored all year, but of our scoring, about 20-25 percent of it came from the halfcourt sets. That’s a good indication that we were active defensively. We got out in transition.”
BNL started solidly, battling to an 11-11 deadlock. Then the avalanche was triggered. Jeffersonville closed the first quarter with a 14-1 run, with three steals leading directly to layups during that burst, to a 25-12 advantage.
The issue continued. BNL finished the half with 18 points, 17 turnovers and trailed by 16.
The Stars had briefs moments of stabilty in the third quarter. Easton Moore swished two treys and turned a steal into a layup that cut the margin to 38-26. He later drilled another bomb that got BNL within 46-34, but the Stars got no closer. Jeffersonville went on another extended run (14-2) to pull away, then ended the game with the final 13 points.
The Devils, who suffered a road loss at Jennings County on Thursday, took man-to-man harassment to a criminal level. They slapped the cuffs on the Stars.
“You have to give credit to Jeff, they pressed us as soon as we got off the bus,” BNL coach Jackson Ryan said. “We have to be poised, and fundamentally sound enough, to handle situations like this. They’re extremely hungry. It’s having the poise to handle the moments.”
The Devils weren’t exactly perfect, with 21 turnovers of their own. But they covered those up by hitting 28 of 51 shots, most while the Stars were scrambling back to recover from giveaways. Fred Stone paced Jeffersonville with 17 points while Terrence Nord (one of the holdovers from last year’s title run) added 10.
”We took this opportunity to challenge some guys, and they responded very well,” Wilkerson said. “When you come off of winning a state championship, sometimes you run the risk of being punch drunk. That’s what we were, we took it for granted a little bit. These guys now realize it’s harder than they thought.”
Dax Short paced BNL with 20 points and Moore totaled 13. But after the quick start, the Stars broke down. They could not handle the tempo.
“We aren’t built to sustain that for 32 minutes, and Jeffersonville is,” Ryan said. “To play a team with the depth and athleticism they have, it has to be possession by possession. Clearly it was not. We were so quick to run down and shoot it, like we thought the building was on fire.”
BNL will look to bounce back on Tuesday night when it hosts Martinsville.
BEDFORD NL STARS (42)
3s FGs FTs R F Pts
24 Gibson Crane, f 0-0 2-6 0-0 3 3 4
10 Easton Moore, f 3-5 5-9 0-0 8 0 13
5 Dax Short, g 0-1 6-8 8-9 5 4 20
1 Parker Kern, g 0-2 0-5 0-2 0 1 0
2 Driven Axsom, g 0-0 0-3 0-0 1 4 0
11 Jace Nicholson 0-1 0-3 0-0 0 0 0
40 Ben Conner 0-0 2-3 1-1 3 2 5
12 Dayson Kirby 0-1 0-1 0-0 1 3 0
23 Jett Alvey 0-1 0-2 0-0 0 2 0
20 Jack Parsons 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
22 Garrett Chaillaux 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Totals 3-10 15-40 9-12 25 19 42
JEFFERSONVILLE RED DEVILS (75)
3s FGs FTs R F Pts
1 Zion Mitchell, f 0-0 2-2 0-0 2 1 4
23 Aidan Toler, f 0-0 0-3 1-2 2 3 1
2 Terrence Nord, g 2-6 4-10 0-0 3 2 10
11 Elijah Cheek, g 0-0 3-6 2-4 6 0 8
4 Fred Stone, g 2-4 7-9 1-1 3 1 17
10 Caleb Jones 1-2 4-5 0-0 1 1 9
3 Jacob Wilkerson 0-1 1-3 2-2 3 2 4
15 Jayvone Roach 0-2 3-5 0-0 1 2 6
21 Damauri Crosby 0-0 1-2 4-6 1 3 6
55 Tre Mitchell 1-2 1-3 3-4 1 0 6
25 Marquel Garner 0-0 1-1 0-0 4 1 2
13 Mason Longest 0-0 1-2 0-0 0 0 2
Totals 6-17 28-51 13-19 28 16 75
Bedford NL 12 6 16 8 – 42
Jeffersonville 25 11 18 21 – 75
Turnovers – BNL 34, Jeffersonville 21
Field goal percentage – BNL 15-40 (.375); Jeffersonville 28-51 (.549)
Free throw percentage – BNL 9-12 (.750); Jeffersonville 13-19 (.684)
