By Justin Sokeland
WBIW.com
MARTINSVILLE – The Age of Miracles is past. Or perhaps it’s just getting started.
According to the Oxford dictionary, a miracle is “a surprising and welcome event that is not explicable by natural or scientific laws, and is therefore considered to be the work of a divine agency.” This Miracle, certainly a welcome scoring threat for Bedford North Lawrence, was definitely divine.
Logan Miracle, BNL’s big man in the middle, exploded for a career-high 26 points as the Stars came back from their elongated weather break with a sensational offensive performance, scorching Martinsville 81-68 on Wednesday night. Patric Matson added 26 points as BNL (5-4) showed it had put the idle time to quality use with its highest point total in four years.
Rust? No problem. BNL’s offense was sharp and virtually unstoppable in video-game mode. Miracle converted 11 of 12 shots, almost all of them from point-blank range at the rim, as the Stars shot a sizzling 65 percent against the Artesians, whose lack of defensive enthusiasm was exploited.
Playing for the first time since Dec. 28, the Stars executed with deadly accuracy and efficiency. Miracle was an early, often target inside, and he powered the Stars to a quick lead with four paint baskets. Matson broke loose in the second quarter as BNL blasted to a double-digit lead while hitting 11 of its first 15 shots, and the Artesians (3-8) never got close.
“That was a product of the way we’ve been in practice,” BNL coach Kurt Godlevske said. “We’ve been really sharp, clean offensively. We’ve been unselfish, really moving the ball, we’ve been crisp.
“All the credit goes to the kids in finding Logan, getting him in the right spots. He was the best I’ve seen him around the basket, his confidence is really growing.”
Miracle, a 6-5 post player, has to rely on the kindness of teammates to find him and distribute the ball. Once he got it, he knew what to do with it.
“When we started passing the ball to each other, and I got going, it just went from there,” Miracle said. “It was being able to screen and getting open. When they were on Patric so much, he was able to dish me the ball when they collapsed on him.”
Miracle’s early barrage powered BNL to an 18-9 lead, and Matson swished three treys that propelled the Stars to a 40-27 advantage at the half. Martinsville stayed close, thanks to Grady Gardner’s 18 first-half points, but BNL opened the second half with two Miracle layups (off passes from Isaiah Sasser), a bomb by Quincy Pickett, another deep Matson jumper and Parker Kern’s breakaway layup. Two more Miracle buckets and Matson’s soft slam on the business end of a fast break pushed BNL to its biggest lead at 70-53.
In addition to the inside-outside duo of Miracle and Matson, Pickett totaled 16 points.
BNL scored its most points since totaling 84 against Horizon Christian during the 2020-21 season. It should not be surprising. Martinsville has now given up 80-plus to five opponents this season. It was stunning from the standpoint of knowing what to expect from the Stars following the 18-day layoff.
“We were worried, but we had good practices,” said Matson, who has caught fire over the last three games, averaging 27.3 in that span. “It was great, good to get a win.”
“It’s about energy,” Miracle said. “We’ve been going into practice with a lot more energy, especially since we haven’t played in a long time. It was good to get out there. The way we practiced, the amount of effort we gave to get back into shape, helped us a lot.”
Gardner paced Martinsville with 26 points, Hunter Stroud added 13 and Ty Stroud finished with 10. Offense was not the issue. BNL buried 10 treys and hit 33 of 51 shots. Everything worked.
“The kids are starting to understand,” Godlevske said. “The play we called to start the fourth quarter, Sasser called it because of something he recognized. I have a lot of trust and faith in our players, and that was a great call by him.”
Then the coach smiled, because winning creates that joy and relaxation. “He needs to sit next to me when he’s out,” Godlevske said.
BNL will continue its NBA-style schedule (a three-game, four-day stretch) against county rival Mitchell on Friday night.
BEDFORD NL STARS (81)
3s FGs FTs R F Pts
5 Dax Short, f 1-2 2-4 0-0 0 2 5
22 Isaiah Sasser, f 0-1 2-4 0-0 4 3 4
31 Logan Miracle, c 0-0 11-12 4-6 8 3 26
10 Patric Matson, g 5-8 10-17 1-2 6 1 26
3 Quincy Pickett, g 4-7 6-9 0-0 3 1 16
12 Jacob Ritter 0-1 0-2 0-0 1 2 0
24 Gibson Crane 0-0 0-0 0-0 1 1 0
23 Tyler Stigall 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1 0
4 Parker Kern 0-1 1-2 0-0 0 1 2
15 Jaden Gilbert 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 1-1 0-0 0 0 2
44 Ben Conner 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Totals 10-20 33-51 5-8 25 15 81
MARTINSVILLE ARTESIANS (68)
3s FGs FTs R F Pts
30 Rhys Wolf, f 1-3 2-4 1-2 1 1 6
14 Zhane Capshaw, f 0-0 3-7 0-3 5 1 6
5 Grady Gardner, g 2-9 8-20 8-8 6 3 26
3 Hunter Stroud, g 1-3 6-9 0-0 2 0 13
22 Ty Stroud, g 3-5 3-6 1-2 7 3 10
24 Gavin Wilburn 0-1 0-2 0-0 0 1 0
10 Alex Stout 1-3 1-3 0-0 1 0 3
33 Brodee Thacker 0-1 1-2 0-0 0 0 2
20 Josh Roberson 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
42 Jacob Toloday 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
40 Charlie Rawlins 0-0 1-1 0-0 0 0 2
Totals 8-25 25-54 10-15 24 9 68
Bedford NL 18 22 21 20 – 81
Martinsville 9 18 20 21 – 68
Turnovers – BNL 9, Martinsville 8
Field goal percentage – BNL 33-51 (.647); Martinsville 25-54 (.463)
Free throw percentage – BNL 5-8 (.625); Martinsville 10-15 (.667)