By Justin Sokeland
WBIW.com
BEDFORD – Somebody from Ellettsville, which has no reputation as a dangerous or vengeful place, must have wronged Trace Rynders in the past. Or perhaps he just likes riding the horses. He sure has dug in the spurs against Edgewood.
Last season, Rynders ended a horrible shooting slump with a career night at Edgewood’s expense. For the encore, even though he earned special mention on the scouting report, the tough senior guard reached double figures for only the second time this year. Edgewood coach Matt Wadsworth will probably volunteer to walk him down the graduation aisle.
With Rynders adding offense to a team that needed a boost, with Bedford North Lawrence taking control during a 13-0 run to end the first half, the Stars bounced back from a disappointing overtime loss just 24 hours earlier to conquer the Mustangs 55-43 on Saturday night.
Patric Matson scored 16 points, Noah Godlevske totaled 14 (with four treys) and Rynders added 10 as BNL (10-3) didn’t suffer any hard-luck hangover from the last outing, a setback against Seymour. The final minutes of the second quarter powered the Stars to a comfortable lead, and Edgewood (7-10) never could cobble together a serious charge.
With cleanliness residing next to godliness, BNL’s cleanest time span – in terms of quality play – was also the burst that created separation. Edgewood owned a 22-21 lead when the Stars made their move. Matson started the run with a bomb from the corner, and Rynders followed with his own corner trey. Logan Miracle muscled home a rebound basket, Matson scored again, and Miracle added two free throws as BNL rumbled to a 34-22 advantage.
“It was nice for the kids to see the ball go in the basket,” BNL coach Kurt Godlevske said. “We started forcing them into quick shots, and we made some nice basketball plays during that stretch.”
Edgewood would scramble within single digits only three times in the second half, even while the Stars flipped from ball protectors (three turnovers in the first half) to fumblers (seven in the third quarter). The second-quarter surge was the ultimate difference.
“That was the game changer for us,” Wadsworth said. “It was being able to take care of the ball and get the shot we wanted. In that stretch, they were able to speed us up. Where their looks were more open, ours were more contested.”
Matson swished a wing 3-pointer (via a Maddox Ray diagonal pass), Godlevske dropped one from the corner, and Quincy Pickett converted an offensive rebound into a baseline 6-footer as BNL took a 46-35 lead to the fourth quarter. Rynders made another fend-off bomb from deep range for a 51-39 advantage midway through the final period.
“We talked about him multiple times,” Wadsworth said. “He hit two and each one came in big moments.
“Some people might say ‘Oh, they played the night before. Is that an advantage for you?’ Absolutely not. They had a tough loss, you knew they would come back hungry and ready to fight.”
Jacob Boggs paced Edgewood with 14 points, but he was the lone consistent threat as the rest of the Mustangs combined to hit only 10 of 30 shots.
BNL’s other contributors included Pickett (5 points and 5 rebounds) and Dax Short (4 points, including a steal for a layup to begin the fourth quarter). The only glitch was the turnover issues in the second half.
“Quincy and Dax had a very good weekend,” Godlevske said. “They made plays on both ends of the floor. We’re going to need that. All the pressure that Seymour put on us, we had a little more freedom, and the kids thought they could do too much, got themselves into trouble and did some uncharacteristic things we just don’t do.”
“Winning was good. We have tough ones coming up, so it was good to get back on the positive side of things.”
BNL will go on the road to face Jeffersonville on Friday night.
EDGEWOOD MUSTANGS (43)
3s FGs FTs R F Pts
11 Jacob Boggs, f 2-5 6-10 0-0 1 1 14
30 Caden Jones, f 0-2 2-7 2-2 5 2 6
24 Carl Norris, g 2-4 2-5 0-0 1 2 6
2 Nolan Reynolds, g 0-1 1-5 3-4 7 3 5
13 Mialin White, g 0-0 2-5 1-2 6 2 5
44 Kam Ranard 0-0 1-1 0-0 1 0 2
10 Carson Huttenlocker 1-4 1-6 0-0 2 2 3
4 Owen McGovern 0-0 1-1 0-0 0 0 2
Totals 5-16 16-40 6-8 23 12 43
BEDFORD NL STARS (55)
3s FGs FTs R F Pts
10 Patric Matson, f 2-6 6-12 2-2 5 2 16
31 Logan Miracle, f 0-0 1-2 2-2 4 0 4
11 Noah Godlevske, g 4-11 5-14 0-0 2 2 14
1 Trace Rynders, g 2-3 3-4 2-2 3 2 10
12 Maddox Ray, g 0-0 0-2 0-0 3 4 0
22 Isaiah Sasser 0-0 1-4 0-0 2 0 2
3 Quincy Pickett 1-2 2-5 0-0 5 0 5
40 Kline Woodward 0-1 0-1 0-0 1 1 0
5 Dax Short 0-0 1-2 2-4 2 0 4
Totals 9-23 19-45 8-10 27 11 55
Edgewood 10 12 13 8 – 43
Bedford NL 15 19 12 9 – 55
Turnovers – Edgewood 16, BNL 13
Field goal percentage – Edgewood 16-40 (.400); BNL 19-45 (.422)
Free throw percentage – Edgewood 6-8 (.750); BNL 8-10 (.800)
