By Justin Sokeland
WBIW.com
HUNTINGBURG – The kid with the cape shed his disguise, ripping off his mortal identity to reveal super-hero status. Bedford North Lawrence needed all his powers.
Patric Matson, held to a high standard, was waiting for a breakout performance. Not that he had been bad during BNL’s first six games, but with great power comes great responsibility. Much to the dismay of the top-ranked team in Class A, Matson came swooping to the rescue during the consolation game of the Southridge Tournament on Saturday night.
In a gym packed with history, Matson added to the legacy, exploding for 27 points as the Stars (4-4) ended a three-game skid with a tough 59-46 win over Orleans. Matson drilled five treys and added nine rebounds as BNL conquered the defending tournament champions and the newly-minted top team in its class.
Matson was in a class by himself. He erupted for 15 points in the opening quarter, powering the Stars to a lead they never relinquished. Following his earlier 29-point day in the tourney opener against Southridge, the encore was even better than the original.
“I just sought to be aggressive,” Matson said. That was evident as he busted six shots in the first eight minutes, including 10 straight points to close the period as BNL ripped to a 20-11 lead.
“I don’t think he touched the rim the whole first half with his shots,” Orleans coach Tom Bradley said. “He was just dead on.”
This time, he had contributing sidekicks. Logan Miracle had 11 points and Quincy Pickett popped three from distance for 9 points. That was the BNL everyone had been expecting, and some were a little perplexed why it took this long.
“That’s the team we had this summer,” BNL coach Kurt Godlevske said. “If we continue to put that together for four quarters, then we’ll have something. Patric was phenomenal, I think he put a lot of pressure on himself, so it was good to see. But I thought everybody chipped in and did something very positive. That’s probably the best we’ve played up to this point.“
The sunburst start was key. Orleans (5-2) can be brutal with the lead, with its patience and executional excellence. That early run kept BNL in a comfort zone, as the Stars rolled to a 16-point margin in the third quarter and never allowed the Bulldogs to get too close.
BNL expanded that lead with some third-quarter brilliance. Dax Short swished a wing bomb off an Isaiah Sasser pass, Pickett splashed another trey, and Matson got loose from a box-and-one chaser to drop another. He followed that with a sharp back cut for a layup off a Pickett pass, scored again with an assists from Miracle, and finished the blast with his final trey. That was reminiscent of last season, when he shot a brilliant 50 percent from long range.
“My shot definitely wasn’t there before,” Matson said. “I’ve been staying after practice and working on it. It was nice to see the first one go in. That got me started.”
Orleans had balance as Alex DeWitt, Bryce Jones and Rylan Crocker all scored 12 points. But the Bulldogs also aided their own demise by hitting only 9 of 22 free throws. That was among the valuable lessons learned during a tough day.
“That’s all we talked about,” Bradley said. “We’ll trade these two losses in a heartbeat if we’re better in March from the lessons we learned. For them to hit their first four or five shots and get ahead, that put a lot of weight on our young kids.”
The fast start could not be overstated. BNL had made a habit of exactly the opposite during three earlier losses.
“It’s important every night, but you can’t play from behind against that team,” Godlevske said. “They’re too good, too disciplined.”
BNL will return to action at Martinsville on Jan. 7.
South Ripley 50, Southridge 48 – In the championship clash, a battle of Raiders, South Ripley improved to 10-0 with a thrilling victory. Blaine Ward scored 20 points and Cole Henry added 12 for the winning Raiders, ranked No.13 in Class 2A.
Tate Whitehead had 15 points for 3A No.5 Southridge (7-1). South Ripley escaped when Southridge’s Cam Haywood missed a corner 3-pointer at the buzzer.
ORLEANS BULLDOGS (46)
3s FGs FTs R F Pts
11 Nolan Robbins, f 0-0 2-2 1-2 1 3 5
15 Nate Brown, f 0-1 2-3 1-2 2 4 5
23 Alex DeWitt, c 0-0 4-7 4-9 8 4 12
14 Bryce Jones, g 1-4 4-11 3-8 1 1 12
10 Rylan Crocker, g 2-8 5-15 0-0 2 3 12
25 Mason Freed 0-0 0-0 0-0 3 1 0
3 Kagen Russell 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1 0
22 Troy Dille 0-0 0-2 0-2 2 0 0
Totals 3-13 17-40 9-22 20 17 46
BEDFORD NL STARS (59)
3s FGs FTs R F Pts
5 Dax Short, f 1-1 1-2 0-0 0 5 3
22 Isaiah Sasser, f 0-0 1-1 3-6 5 4 5
31 Logan Miracle, c 0-0 3-5 5-7 4 2 11
10 Patric Matson, g 5-6 11-16 0-0 9 4 27
3 Quincy Pickett, g 3-7 3-7 0-0 2 1 9
12 Jacob Ritter 1-2 1-2 0-0 2 1 3
24 Gibson Crane 0-0 0-0 0-0 1 1 0
4 Parker Kern 0-2 0-3 1-2 2 1 1
23 Tyler Stigall 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
11 Colton Taylor 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
1 Jerett Gilbert 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Totals 10-18 20-36 9-16 26 19 59
Orleans 11 9 16 10 – 46
Bedford NL 20 10 17 12 – 59
Turnovers – Orleans 8, BNL 12
Field goal percentage – Orleans 17-40 (.425); BNL 20-36 (.556)
Free throw percentage – Orleans 9-22 (.409); BNL 9-16 (.563)
SOUTH RIPLEY 50, SOUTHRIDGE 48
Southridge (7-1) – Justin Leathers 2, Tate Whitehead 15, Noah Wright 4, Cam Haywood 10, Davis Schwartz 3, Hudson Montgomery 8. Brock Thacker 6.
South Ripley (10-0) – Bryson Sipples 9, Drew Volz 7, Blaine Ward 20, Cole Henry 12, Chancie Volz 2
ALL TOURNAMENT TEAM
Patric Matson, BNL
Blaine Ward, South Ripley (MVP)
Tate Whitehead, Southridge
Cole Henry, South Ripley
Bryce Jones, Orleans
