Courtesy photo
By Andy Graham
Special to WBIW.com
LOOGOOTEE – Peyton Bledsoe made the free throw he needed for the milestone Tuesday night.
But he missed the second try that would’ve given his team a lead with four seconds left in regulation and Bedford North Lawrence’s gritty Stars ultimately made Loogootee’s host Lions pay.
BNL began an 11-day, five-game road swing with a palpitating 53-51 overtime win against the Class A No. 5-ranked Lions.
And if road warriors they must be, the Stars are already showing plenty of fight.
Despite 33 points from Bledsoe – who became the first player in Loogootee’s storied hoops history to reach 1,000 career points as a junior – BNL overcame a 36-29 deficit down the stretch of the fourth quarter to earn an extra session and then prevail.
“We scrapped and battled,” Stars coach Jeff Hein said. “I’m proud of our kids. We didn’t shoot the ball very well. We missed a lot of layups. We missed a lot of free throws tonight. But we found a way.”
Indeed, BNL won despite hitting just half its charities (9 of 18) and shot just .419 from the field, but that was offset by 8-for-15 firing from 3-point range and a whole lot of hustle. The smaller Stars won the battle of the boards, 30-22, and committed just seven turnovers to the Lions’ 11.
“We won the boards,” Hein was pleased to acknowledge, “and that’s not because we’re big, but we’re scrappy.”
Loogootee (13-5) showed it could claw back, too, following the teams feeling each other out in a first quarter that ended with BNL up 6-5.
After Colton Staggs sank a 3 to give the Stars a 9-7 lead with 6:12 left before intermission, BNL junior classmate Kaedyn Bennett scored the game’s next seven points. Bennett’s 3 from the right wing was sandwiched by a pair of slip-screen hoops inside, both featuring slick high-low feeds from Colten Leach. Suddenly, it was 16-7, Stars.
But four straight Bledsoe free throws and a 3 from the right wing by Isaac Eagle saw the hosts cut their deficit to just 18-14 by halftime. Then 6-4 junior Bledsoe supplied a torrid third quarter.
Bledsoe scored 12 points in the third period alone, making five of his first seven shots of the second half, and Loogootee’s only other attempts in the quarter were made 3s from Eagle and Leighton Jeffers, helping the Lions to a 32-29 edge by the stop.
When Bledsoe went 1-of-2 in a bonus free throw opportunity with 4:22 to play, Loogootee had its 36-29 bulge and spread the court to run clock.
“They went to the spread, so we had to get after them and try to extend the game as best we could,” Hein said. “You know, trap ‘em, and make them hit free throws. They made 17 (of 25 for the game) … but we found a way to get some steals and make some plays on the defensive end to create some offense for us.”
Sophomore guard Trace Rynders, who hit all four 3s he took, got the Stars’ stretch drive going with a trey from the right wing to cut the deficit to 36-32 at the 4:05 mark. Bledsoe answered with a driving bucket, but Kole Bailey’s 3 from the left baseline brought BNL within 38-35 at 3:12.
A Bledsoe bunny, a Staggs drive and two Leach free throws at the 1:20 mark made it 41-40, Loogootee. The teams then exchanged charges, the second of which fouled Leach out at 0:32.4.
But Bailey came up with a clutch steal on the ensuing inbounds and drew a foul himself before calmly canning both free throws to put BNL up, 42-41 with 0:29 left in regulation.
That was still the score when Bledsoe was fouled at 0:04. He stood at 999 career points. His first free throw caught some front iron but rattled in to the delight of the boisterous home crowd. But his second free throw rimmed out and overtime ensued.
Staggs set the tone immediately in the extra session when a nifty spin to a lefty layup. After two Bledsoe free throws tied it at 44-44, Rynders rang up another 3 to put the Stars ahead for good and Staggs came up with another successful drive to the hole, this time spinning to a right-handed layup.
BNL 5-10 sophomore Maddox Ray then made his presence felt. He defended Bledsoe doggedly, pulled in three big boards, and made a steal at 1:12 of OT, following that with a pair of 1-for-2 trips to the line, the latter sending the Stars to a 52-46 cushion at 0:33.3.
“Huge.” Hein said of Ray’s contribution. “He played great. We were just at a loss (trying to defend Bledsoe). We started with Leach on Bledsoe, and he got in foul trouble. So we moved Kole Bailey onto him, and he got in foul trouble. Then we moved Jett Jones over on him, and he was scoring on Jett.
“So we had to try something else and went to Maddox – who played three quarters of the JV game tonight, gave us two varsity quarters and just came up huge for us.”
Bledsoe made his first 3 of the game to get Loogootee within 53-51 at 0:07.3, and BNL was called for a five-second violation on the subsequent inbounds. But Bledsoe’s hurried 3-point try from well beyond the key stayed below the rim and rang off the front iron at the final buzzer.
Staggs finished with 13 points to lead a balanced Stars attack that also featured a dozen points apiece from Rynders and Bennett, plus seven each from Bailey and Leach.
“Leach and Staggs didn’t have their best offensive performances,” Hein said. “Neither of them shot the ball very well. But we had other kids step up. Rynders hit four (3s) and Bennett hit a couple there while both of them scored 12 points.
“But Staggs really got going in the overtime. They couldn’t stop him off the dribble. That’s what we tried to do, with him, once we got the lead.
“Anytime you win here, with this great environment, it’s great for the kids to find a way and just not give up. We just didn’t give up. We persevered and found a way to get one here.”
BNL, now above .500 at 8-7, travels Thursday to Jeffersonville and plays Friday at Brownstown Central.
BEDFORD NL STARS (53)
3s FGs FTs R F Pts
34 Jett Jones, f 0-0 0-0 0-0 2 1 0
4 Kaedyn Bennett, f 2-5 5-9 0-2 5 4 12
2 Colten Leach, g 0-0 3-11 1-2 8 5 7
1 Trace Rynders, g 4-4 4-5 0-0 3 0 12
22 Colton Staggs, g 1-4 4-14 4-6 4 2 13
10 Dylan Nikirk 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
14 Kole Bailey 1-2 2-4 2-2 5 3 7
12 Maddox Ray 0-0 0-0 2-6 3 1 2
Totals 8-15 18-43 9-18 30 16 53
LOOGOOTEE LIONS (51)
3s FGs FTs R F Pts
24 Parker Arvin, f 0-0 2-2 0-0 2 5 4
10 Isaac Eagle, f 2-3 2-3 0-2 3 4 6
33 Peyton Bledsoe, g 1-5 10-21 12-15 9 3 33
20 Leighton Jeffers, g 1-1 1-1 0-0 1 1 3
30 Luke Nonte, g 0-0 0-2 1-2 2 1 1
22 Jon Whitworth 0-2 0-2 3-4 3 1 3
13 Drew Walker 0-1 0-1 1-2 2 1 1
32 Mason Roark 0-0 0-0 0-0 2 3 0
21 Isaac Waggner 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Totals 4-12 15-35 17-25 22 19 51
Bedford NL 6 12 11 13 11 – 53
Loogootee 5 9 18 10 9 – 51
Turnovers: BNL 7, Loogootee 11.
Technical foul – BNL bench
Field goal percentage: Bedford NL 18-43 (.419), Loogootee 15-35 (.429)
Free throw percentage: Bedford NL 9-18 (.500), Loogootee 17-25 (.680)
