By Justin Sokeland
WBIW.com
BEDFORD – Summer basketball is a sneak preview, the coming attraction for a season that’s still far, far away. There’s no pressure to win, but a need to impress. Bedford North Lawrence is doing both, undefeated thus far.
The Stars recorded two more triumphs during Tuesday night’s doubleheader, posting victories over Martinsville and Eastern Greene. That’s eight straight wins, with nine remaining during this month of practice sessions, camps and scrimmages against outside competition. It’s way too early to predict greatness, but the initial returns on the 2024-25 version of BNL basketball are promising.
After sweeping through six opponents in the Lawrenceburg Shootout, the Stars maintained their momentum by conquering the Artesians (71-53) and Thunderbirds (70-47). There was the expected offensive contributions of Patric Matson, who could be destined for a sensational senior campaign. There were interesting guard combinations, which is the area BNL must stabilize after graduation claimed three backcourt starters.
And on the other side, Martinsville showed its deadly shooting capabilities, Eastern Greene unveiled a familiar freshman with tremendous potential.
From the BNL standpoint, the victory over the Artesians showed both its weak points (allowing 14 treys and falling behind by 12 points in the first quarter) and strengths. Matson was a shooting machine with 32 points, and the Stars surged back from the early deficit.
“We got off to a slow start,” BNL coach Kurt Godlevske said. “We’ve been challenged and fought back, found ways to be more efficient and tougher. We have stretches where it looks like I want it to look, and those stretches were longer. So we’re getting better.”
Martinsville hit five bombs during the quick burst to a 20-8 lead. Matson triggered the response, hitting back-to-back treys to ignite the comeback, then two more to get BNL even. The Stars scored the last six points of the first half with Logan Miracle’s two close-range buckets and Dax Short’s layup off a Matson steal.
Quincy Pickett popped two jumpers for a 41-28 advantage, and the Stars scored 14 straight points later in the half for a 60-39 margin.
Miracle finished with 10 points. Martinsville’s Grady Gardner had 24 points, prompting Godlevske to ask “Dude, are you going to miss?” as he trotted past the bench.
In the second game, Matson got the Stars started with eight first-quarter points, then got plenty of help. Miracle and Jacob Ritter both scored 10 points, Parker Kern added 7. BNL hit seven treys (after totaling 9 against Martinsville).
“These kids are experienced,” Godlevske said. “We had very little of that last year. The second year always seems to be a lot simpler. That’s made a big difference, it’s a lot smoother.
“We need some of the younger kids to figure things out, see who can help us and give us some depth. That’s the area that is glaring right now.”
Eastern’s participation marked the return of former BNL coach Jamie Hudson, and the breakout of freshman Kyan Hudson, the coach’s son who grew up in BNL Fieldhouse. After torching Martinsville for 24 points (the Artesians won that encounter 73-46), he added 15 against BNL. Cody Sykes added 11 points for the Thunderbirds, but all eyes were on the skinny kid in the pink (??) shoes who used to run through the BNL pregame routines and learned to dribble right after he learned to walk.
Is he ready for varsity-level work? He sure looked like it, handling himself with confidence, hitting long jumpers and an occasional off-balance, wild-but-effective shot. Eastern was not at full strength, with two starters missing.
“When you sign up for these things, you’re hoping everyone will be here,” Hudson said. “But it allows some other kids to play a little bit. Against two good 4A teams that shoot it well, this will make us better. That’s what summer is about.
“I’m intrigued about this team. We still have work to do, but I like where we are. We have some shooters, but we have to figure out how we can rebound a lot better.”
BNL 71, Martinsville 53
BNL – Patric Matson 32, Isaiah Sasser 6, Quincy Pickett 6, Logan Miracle 10, Jarrett Gilbert 3, Dax Short 7, Jacob Ritter 5, Ben Conner 2
BNL 70, Eastern Greene 47
BNL – Logan Miracle 10, Patric Matson 16, Parker Kern 7, Dax Short 5, Isaiah Sasser 6, Easton Moore 4, Ben Conner 3, Jacob Ritter 10, Quincy Pickett 5, Jace Nicholson 2, Colton Taylor 2
