By Justin Sokeland
WBIW.com
ELLETTSVILLE – According to Steph Curry, arguably the best of the modern shooters, there’s no such thing as a shooting slump. His explanation for a cold streak? “I’m just missing shots.” His mindset, and that of any good shooters, is the next one is always going in.
The next one finally went in for Trace Rynders. And the next. Until there was no trace of a slump at all, only the scorched earth in his wake as Bedford North Lawrence’s junior sniper caught fire. Once he ignited, the blaze was breathtaking and unquenchable.
Rynders didn’t just end his frustrating skid, he went nuclear, burying five jumpers from long range as the Stars shot down Edgewood 58-39 on Saturday night. Rynders scored 16 points, and BNL’s full-court press fueled a 22-0 run over two quarters, powering BNL (8-5) to its fourth win in the last five games.
How cold was Rynders? Consider the poor souls in Oymyakon, Russia, where winter temperatures average minus-58. Rynders was being considered for honorary citizenship in that frozen village. After torching Bloomington South for four treys, he was 3 for 28 from distance over 10 games. His jumper could have been pictured on milk cartons. Not anymore. Flame on.
Two bombs during BNL’s run to a double-digit lead at the half. Three more in the second half, the last while getting decked into his own bench for a four-point play. That one had to hurt a little, but that pain was worth the smile as his teammates erupted.
“I think he shot his way out of his slump tonight. What do you think?,” BNL coach Jeff Hein said. “It was great to see. Tonight was his night. He always provides so many other things. He plays hard on defense, handles the basketball, makes good decisions. When he scores, it’s an added plus.”
The most impressive thing about the Rynders saga was the way he handled it. Not pouting. No sulking on defense. No self pity.
“Obviously it’s frustrating,” Rynders said. “I just needed a night like tonight to do my thing. Shooting is a small part of a lot of facets of the game. There’s a lot of other things to provide for my team, if I play hard. My shots might not always fall. I just have to live with that, keep playing hard.”
After the dry spell, here came the Rynders rain, his high-arcing launches from distant realms. With Edgewood (6-10) owning a 16-14 lead with 4:20 left in the first half, Rynders ripped his first. Colten Leach followed with a steal on the press that set up Colton Staggs for a 12-footer. Rynders swished another deep bomb as BNL ended the half with 12 straight points.
And the Stars weren’t finished. During the first 3 1/2 minutes of the third quarter, Rynders buried two more jumpers, Kaedyn Bennett dropped a soft 6-footer in the lane off a Kole Bailey pass, and Leach rebounded his own miss for a 36-16 lead. And the Mustangs were finished.
While Rynders was key on one end, BNL’s press was the difference on the other. Edgewood had 15 turnovers during the two middle quarters. The Stars switched from soft pressure to more aggression, and that paid off.
“We were going to pick our time,” Hein said. “We did a good job on the back of it, reading eyes and picking off passes. We got our energy up, got some easy baskets out of the press. At some point we were going to take over, it was a matter of when. That big run was the difference.“
BNL’s biggest lead came at 56-32 on Noah Godlevske’s corner trey. That was BNL’s 11th 3-pointer of the night, prompting Edgewood coach Matt Wadsworth to ask “When have they shot that well?” Of course, he knew the answer. Coaches don’t spend a million hours scouring video tape to not know the answer.
“Give Bedford a lot of credit for shooting the ball as well as they did,” Wadsworth said. “That was the big difference.”
Leach finished with 12 points, Staggs had 9, and Bailey came off the bench to grab five rebounds and play the point man on the extended defense. BNL was guilty of only 6 turnovers.
Xzander Hammonds paced the Mustangs with 13 points while Mialin White added 9. Edgewood just couldn’t recover from its eight-minute scoring slump.
“The press stunted our offensive momentum and limited our ability to attack,” Wadsworth said. “We needed to do a better job of taking care of the basketball.”
BNL will return to action on Friday, hosting Jeffersonville.
BEDFORD NL STARS (58)
3s FGs FTs R F Pts
4 Kaedyn Bennett, f 1-6 2-8 1-2 2 1 6
2 Colten Leach, f 0-2 6-13 0-2 4 1 12
22 Colton Staggs, g 2-5 3-11 1-2 3 0 9
1 Trace Rynders, g 5-8 5-8 1-1 3 2 16
11 Noah Godlevske, g 2-4 2-5 0-0 1 0 6
14 Kole Bailey 1-2 1-3 2-2 5 1 5
34 Jett Jones 0-0 1-1 0-0 3 2 2
5 Houston Corbin 0-0 0-0 0-0 1 0 0
12 Maddox Ray 0-0 1-1 0-0 0 0 2
10 Patric Matson 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Totals 11-26 21-50 5-9 24 7 58
EDGEWOOD MUSTANGS (39)
3s FGs FTs R F Pts
11 Jacob Boggs, f 1-3 2-5 0-0 4 0 5
24 Carl Norris, f 0-0 1-2 0-2 2 3 2
44 Kam Radard, c 0-0 2-3 1-2 1 2 5
22 Mialin White, g 1-1 4-6 0-0 6 4 9
2 Xzander Hammonds, g 3-6 5-10 0-1 1 0 13
34 Nick McCullough 0-0 0-3 2-2 3 5 2
10 Carson Huttenlocker 1-2 1-2 0-0 0 1 3
15 Anthony Gough 0-0 0-1 0-0 0 0 0
20 Hayden Cross 0-1 0-1 0-0 0 0 0
21 Luke Waugh 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
33 Owen McGovern 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Totals 6-13 15-33 3-7 21 15 39
Bedford NL 11 15 15 17 – 58
Edgewood 11 5 8 15 – 39
Turnovers – BNL 6, Edgewood 18
Field goal percentage – BNL 21-50 (.420); Edgewood 15-33 (.455)
Free throw percentage – BNL 5-9 (.556); Edgewood 3-7 (.429)
