By Justin Sokeland
WBIW.com
NEW ALBANY – New Albany polished up its crown for a coronation.
With the Hoosier Hills Conference championship already clinched, the Bulldogs were just showing off the hardware and jewels, completing a perfect run through the league while celebrating Senior Night. Although it took a little more spit-shine and sweat than expected, there’s no argument about the best team in the historic conference.
The offense hummed, the defense churned Bedford North Lawrence into costly mistakes. That’s New Albany’s slashing style. The Stars, hanging on like cockleburs on socks, were hard to get rid of during a competitive first half. Then, like Marvel villain Thanos with the power stones, with a snap of the fingers, BNL was dusted.
The No.12 Bulldogs dominated the second half while cruising to a 95-61 victory over BNL on Friday night. T.J. Washington scored 26 points as New Albany (15-5 overall, 6-0 in the HHC) showed why its one of the top scoring offenses in the state. The Bulldogs exploded for their most points since torching Southwestern for 103 during the 2022-23 campaign.
This didn’t have a mercy-rule feel, even though New Albany’s finally triggered the running clock for the final minute. BNL (6-13, 1-5) owned a 15-14 lead after the first quarter and trailed 29-28 when Driven Axsom bounced in a corner trey midway through the second period. But from that point, as turnovers did the usual damage, the Stars faded away like the Thanos victims. There was no recovering with a time heist.
“I’m really proud of our fight,” BNL coach Jackson Ryan said. “We weren’t intimidated, we came out swinging. Turnovers again, same bugaboo, but I thought we competed. If anything, you have to tip your hat to them. We weren’t terrible defensively. That’s just a special team.”
BNL had so many quality numbers – 22 of 39 shooting, including seven treys, won the rebounding battle. But, and this is a big ’but’ that nobody likes or can lie about, the Stars had 30 turnovers. Those created multiple breakaways for layups and dunks.
“Even though they turned it over, when they got into the halfcourt, they executed their stuff and made shots,” New Albany coach Jason Jones said. “That’s the name of the game, and they did that at a pretty high clip.
“Credit them, they played really well in the first half, shot the ball extremely well and made us work for it.”
Credit goes to Dax Short, who stroked three straight bombs, and Ben Conner, who came off the bench inspired while hitting all four of his shots, for the first-half interest. But after New Albany closed the half with a 41-32 advantage, the Dogs howled with a 26-5 blast in the third quarter. With a snap and a surge, New Albany owned a 30-point lead.
”They get after you,” Ryan said. “And when you make a mistake, they make you pay.”
In addition to Washington (one of the honored seniors) in the backcourt, the Bulldogs got scoring punch from star wing Noah Washington (21) and freshman sensation Karson Stoudemire (18).
“It’s rarely our offense that we have to worry about,” Jones said. “It’s can we guard and get stops? Most nights, we’re going to put points on the board. We get it on a lot of ways.”
Short finished with 19 points, Conner had a career-best night with personal highs of 13 points and 10 rebounds, and Gibson Crane totaled 10 points. BNL surrendered its most points since the 2015-16 squad allowed 97 at New Albany, and hit the 30-plus mark in turnovers for the second time this season.
“That’s the depth they have at the guard spot, the speed and athleticism across the board,” Ryan said. “Dax got hot and kept us in it. Ben came in and gave us some nice minutes, just working hard. That’s Ben Conner.”
New Albany celebrated its 21st HHC title and its first outright crown since 2017. The Bulldogs have now cemented their status as the overwhelming sectional favorite.
“We’re close,” Jones said. “We have some games left that will give us an idea. If we play the way we’re playing now, I like our chances. But at tournament time, weird things happen. You have to bring your A game.
“If you come into a game like this and drop it, the title doesn’t mean quite as much. So it was good to get it done.”
BNL will host Evansville North and celebrate its Senior Night on Saturday. Both teams will learn their postseason fate when the IHSAA announces sectional pairings on Sunday.
BEDFORD NL STARS (61)
3s FGs FTs R F Pts
24 Gibson Crane, f 1-1 4-6 1-3 3 2 10
10 Easton Moore, f 0-1 1-3 2-2 4 0 4
5 Dax Short, g 4-6 6-9 3-4 5 2 19
23 Jett Alvey, g 0-0 0-1 0-0 0 1 0
2 Driven Axsom, g 1-1 2-2 2-2 1 4 7
11 Jace Nicholson 1-3 1-4 0-0 1 2 3
40 Ben Conner 0-0 6-8 1-1 10 2 13
12 Dayson Kirby 0-0 1-1 0-0 1 0 2
1 Parker Kern 0-2 1-5 1-2 0 3 3
Totals 7-14 22-39 10-14 27 16 61
NEW ALBANY BULLDOGS (95)
3s FGs FTs R F Pts
32 Vince Baker, f 2-3 5-7 0-2 1 0 12
2 Noah Washington, f 0-3 7-14 7-8 3 0 21
23 Braxton Mayfield, g 1-2 1-2 0-0 0 2 3
5 T.J. Washington, g 4-7 9-14 4-5 1 0 26
0 Reece McKee, g 0-1 1-5 2-2 3 0 4
3 Karson Stoudemire 3-4 7-10 1-2 2 0 18
12 Seth Winslow 0-0 3-4 0-0 4 2 6
10 Ashton McKee 0-2 1-3 0-0 0 1 2
33 Greyson Grubbs 0-1 0-2 1-2 2 5 1
11 Jaedyn Sharp 0-0 1-1 0-0 2 2 2
35 Xavier Harvey 0-1 0-1 0-0 1 0 0
24 Maddox Warren 0-0 0-0 0-0 1 0 0
15 Corbin Crone 0-1 0-1 0-0 2 0 0
4 Kyron Johnson 0-0 0-0 0-0 2 1 0
Totals 10-24 35-63 15-21 24 15 95
Bedford NL 15 17 11 18 – 61
New Albany 14 27 31 23 – 95
Turnovers – BNL 30, New Albany 8
Field goal percentage – BNL 22-39 (.564); New Albany 35-63 (.556)
Free throw percentage – BNL 10-14 (.714); New Albany 15-21 (.714)
