By Justin Sokeland
WBIW.com
BEDFORD – Every season reaches a watershed moment, an epiphany point, when the light switch clicks on or else everything goes dark. For Bedford North Lawrence, that significant juncture happened on the morning of Jan. 7, a collective summit that changed the course of this team’s history. From that point, BNL became a dangerous team destined for a great second-half run.
Call it the Mandalorian Meeting. This is the way. The Stars decided to revert to their old-school, ultra-patient approach. The results were amazing. BNL won 10 of its next 11 contests, claimed a share of the Hoosier Hills Conference championship and won the most games since 2011.
The Stars finished 2022-23 with a 16-7 record, a victory total that far surpassed what was expected from outsiders. They looked at what BNL lacked. That was the wrong viewpoint. The real measurement was not in roster heights, but should have been gauged by experience, by mental tenacity, by a resolve to play to team strengths rather than rely on individual talent. Separately, the Stars were not impressive. Together, they were.
The pivotal caucus came the next day following BNL’s worst performance, a 48-44 road loss at Evansville Reitz. That was a long bus ride home, as the Stars stumbled to 4-4, headed toward mediocrity. That all flipped following the change in approach that was agreed upon during the team council.
“We thought we might be able to play a different style this year, play a little faster,” BNL coach Jeff Hein said. “We tried that, and it just didn’t work. We made the decision about the way we had to play, slow the game down and make the most of every possession, dictate tempo. The kids really bought into that. I know it’s not the most fun to watch, but it was effective.
”And it worked.”
Worked wonderfully. BNL charged through the rest of the regular season, becoming the team nobody wanted to face. That was proven in the opening game of the Class 4A sectional at Seymour as the Stars pushed No.9 Jennings County to the brink of an upset before suffering a heartbreaking loss in double overtime.
“We were a team that didn’t meet the eye test, but was pretty good,” Hein said. “You watch us warm up, and you think we have no chance. They won with intelligence, and great guard play. The philosophy was putting the ball in the hands of your best players and let them make decisions.”
Those guards became a feared tandem across southern Indiana. Senior playmakers Colten Leach (17.5 points, 9.0 rebounds and 4.2 assists) and Colton Staggs (11.2 points) weren’t mentioned by opposing coaches as singular components, they were always acknowledged as a duo. They set the tone, with their ability to drive and attack, to find open perimeter shooters if the path to the basket was clogged, with their ballhandling skills. BNL averaged a minuscule 7.7 turnovers per game.
“Those two guys made really good decisions,” Hein said. “And that led to our success.”
They had help. Junior guard Noah Godlevske averaged 10.8 points and shot a blistering 50 percent from 3-point range. Senior forward Kaedyn Bennett added 6.0 points, junior guard Trace Rynders totaled 4.4, and senior Kole Bailey came off the bench to add 3.9. Add in senior reserve Jett Jones, and that seven-man rotation did the bulk of the work.
Leach finished his career as one of the top scorers in BNL history, finishing seventh on the career list with 1,137 points. That included a career-high 41 against Mooresville this season, and he went out with one of the more memorable finishes with 28 points and a career-best 19 rebounds against Jennings. He totaled nine double-doubles this season. And those numbers were compiled after battling through two knee surgeries, an injured ankle prior to this season, and a sore shoulder suffered against Brownstown.
“What an effort that was,” Hein said of Leach’s sectional farewell. “He’s a tough kid, a special athlete, a special basketball player. Those kind don’t come around that often. He scored that many points and did it without being a ball hog. Much like the top two guys (Damon and Brayton Bailey) on our scoring list. Those two weren’t ball hogs either, yet they scored the points that they scored. That’s a tribute to him.
“The ball was in his hands a lot. He was very underrated. I don’t think people realized how good he was.”
The defining wins following the South Knox turnaround came in back-to-back weekend clashes with Jeffersonville (a win that helped lock down the program’s first HHC title since 2011) and Terre Haute North (on the road in overtime).
“The win against South Knox, after not playing well at Reitz, was a heck of a win,” Hein said. “That’s when the run started. That’s about the time we took off. Jeffersonville was a big win, they’re a very good team, and Terre Haute North was very good. Beating them on the road, at their Homecoming, was a big win.”
Alas, the ending was bitter. The Stars fell to Jennings by a 72-71 decision in double overtime, and BNL was left to lament the slipping away of a 12-point lead in the fourth quarter, of a nine-point lead in the second extra period.
“It’s very disappointing,” Hein said. “It hurts, it’s going to hurt for a while. I feel for the kids, they put so much into it their whole lives to get to that point. Things didn’t go the way they should have gone, but that’s basketball. We put ourselves in that position – we played hard, these kids compete – against a very good basketball team.
“Once we got that nine-point lead, things went awry. It’s disappointing that’s the way our season had to end. I hated it for our kids. They deserved to win that ballgame.”
Now what? The future is unclear. BNL loses six seniors (including Houston Corbin) that were responsible for 70 percent of the points and minutes played. The Stars actually prepared for this contingency last summer, competing in a team camp with only underclassmen.
“We knew, at some point, these kids would graduate,” Hein said. “We’re there, I hate it because they’re a great group of kids. Life goes on and you have to continue to move forward. The ball will be in Rynders’ hands more, Noah will have the ball in his hands more. They were off the ball as shooters, now they’ll have to do a little more because they’re the ones with experience.”
BNL is going to count on junior varsity players (juniors Maddox Ray and Kline Woodward, sophomores Patric Matson, Isaiah Sasser, Quincy Pickett and Logan Miracle) to make the quantum leap to the varsity level.
“That’s why you start again in the spring with the young kids, play some games in June and figure some things out,” Hein said. “Things are open now, as far as positions. They’re up for grabs, and it’s who wants to work the hardest, who wants to get bigger and stronger. We will have kids with more size than we’ve had the last couple of years.
“Playing at the varsity level, as physical as the game is, that’s a whole new level.”
BEDFORD NORTH LAWRENCE (16-7)
Final Statistics
3s Pct. FGs Pct. FTs Pct. R Avg. Pts Avg.
Colten Leach 4-14 (.285) 159-327 (.486) 79-116 (.681) 208 (9.0) 403 (17.5)
Colton Staggs 21-47 (.447) 84-174 (.483) 70-86 (.814) 45 (2.0) 259 (11.2)
Noah Godlevske 62-124 (.500) 82-161 (.509) 20-24 (.833) 27 (1.2) 248 (10.8)
Kaedyn Bennett 26-83 (.313) 43-110 (.391) 26-32 (.813) 57 (2.5) 138 (6.0)
Trace Rynders 24-80 (.300) 33-99 (.333) 13-20 (.650) 46 (2.0) 102 (4.4)
Kole Bailey 10-21 (.476) 32-61 (.525) 18-28 (.643) 38 (1.7) 90 (3.9)
Jett Jones 2-6 (.333) 7-14 (.500) 1-2 (.500) 22 (1.0) 17 (0.7)
Kline Woodward 1-3 (.333) 4-9 (.444) 0-0 (.000) 5 (0.7) 9 (1.3)
Houston Corbin 0-0 (.000) 1-2 (.500) 0-1 (.000) 8 (0.7) 2 (0.2)
Maddox Ray 0-0 (.000) 5-9 (.556) 4-4 (1.000) 7 (0.7) 14 (1.4)
Logan Miracle 0-0 (.000) 1-1 (1.000) 0-0 (.000) 0 (.000) 2 (0.4)
Quincy Pickett 2-4 (.500) 2-6 (.333) 0-1 (.000) 3 (0.4) 6 (0.9)
Patric Matson 2-2 (1.000) 3-5 (.600) 0-0 (.000) 3 (0.6) 8 (1.6)
Isaiah Sasser 0-0 (.000) 1-2 (.500) 0-0 (.000) 0 (0.0) 2 (2.0)
Totals 154-384 (.401) 457-980 (.466) 231-314 (.736) 469 (20.4) 1300 (56.5)
Opp. 111-308 (.360) 380-874 (.435) 215-328 (.655) 565 (24.6) 1106 (48.1)
BNL CAREER SCORING LIST
Damon Bailey 3,134
Brayton Bailey 1,579
Kent Moutardier 1,469
Alan Bush 1,333
Braxton Day 1,233
Scott Turner 1,229
Colten Leach 1,137
Joey Ray 1,112
Blaze Byrer 1,098
Larry Ikerd 1,084
