By Justin Sokeland
WBIW.com
BEDFORD – Certain metals don’t rust, even in this climate that fluctuates between miserable humidity and wretched winter cold. Most notable among the iron-free impervious are aluminum, brass, copper and bronze. Add Bedford North Lawrence to that list.
Worried about corrosion after two weeks off? Even with the long holiday break, the Stars were razor sharp with another offensive clinic. With exquisite ball movement and the continuation of incredible shooting, BNL cut up Martinsville to extend its impressive winning streak.
Patric Matson scored 20 points and Noah Godlevske added 16 as the Stars washed away the Artesians 73-44 on Tuesday night. Logan Miracle totaled 10 points as BNL (5-2) cruised to its fourth straight win, while Martinsville (3-7) dropped its fourth straight.
Take the temperature of any team across Indiana. Nobody is hotter than BNL. The Stars converted 30 of 44 shots (a sizzling 68 percent) against the Artesians. Think that’s a fluke? BNL is shooting 60 percent during this four-game explosion. The Stars also hit 70-plus points for the third time in those four games, and it’s been 13 years since any BNL team has done that.
By the way, the Stars even had two slams, and how long has it been since that happened?
Normally, some slippage would have been expected after such a lengthy layoff. That’s just human nature. Perhaps this team is better than normal, a little inhuman with its shooting ability. Or more practice is making perfect.
“This is one of the best team-basketball groups I’ve been around,” BNL coach Kurt Godlevske said. “It’s been fun to watch them mature. It was maybe the best ball movement and sharing of the basketball that I’ve seen us have.”
BNL dismissed any fretting about idleness with a brilliant 17-2 run that closed the first quarter and carried into the next. Matson and Trace Rynders swished bombs, Maddox Ray scored off a great Matson pass for a layup, Matson popped a corner trey and Ray finished the blast with a 15-footer for a 21-7 lead.
The Stars capped the first half with a Quincy Pickett layup (off an Isaiah Sasser look), with Matson’s drive through traffic, and with Godlevske’s corner trey at the buzzer for a 33-17 lead. Martinsville went to full-court pressure in the third, and BNL shredded that with a 13-1 burst that featured more layups – Miracle, from a heat-seeking Rynders pass from the top of the key to the baseline. Matson, with a Pickett feed. Sasser, from a Matson assist. That made it 48-21.
“There’s always that worry, when you haven’t played in two weeks,” Rynders said. “But our practices have been pretty good, we’ve been playing well – just like we did out there tonight.
“We’ve worked a lot on being patient, taking our time and getting the best shot possible. There were a lot of times where we passed it one more time, or even another time, and the shot was wide open. It’s just unselfishness. It’s a lot of fun.”
The final highlights were the dunks, of course. Matson got behind the defense for a one-handed flush, and Miracle added his own rattling putdown. Rare air for the Stars to do anything above the rim.
Except for a brief lapse early in the fourth quarter, when Martinsville slashed the gap to 16 as the Stars got a little sloppy, and too many missed free throws, BNL was superior in all phases. Matson and Miracle both grabbed six boards. And the Artesians couldn’t recover from BNL’s early eruption.
“It was an emphasis that the first few minutes, after a two-week layoff, were crucial,” Godlevske said. “I told them not to force the ball offensively, but we had to defend. We did that, just let the game come to us. When we got in that flow, it looked really good. It was good to see us being patient, hitting those cutters.”
Grady Gardner paced Martinsville with 18 points while Hunter Stroud added 10.
BNL will return to action on Friday, hosting Evansville Reitz.
MARTINSVILLE ARTESIANS (44)
3s FGs FTs R F Pts
4 A.J. Reynolds, f 0-2 1-6 0-0 2 2 2
22 Lane Taylor, f 0-0 1-1 1-2 1 2 3
24 Grady Gardner, g 4-7 6-12 2-2 2 2 18
3 Hunter Stroud, g 2-7 4-10 0-0 1 5 10
5 Jace Lafary, g 0-6 0-7 0-0 1 2 0
30 Mason Dodson 3-4 3-6 0-0 1 1 9
42 Zhane Capshaw 0-1 0-1 2-2 2 0 2
10 Rhys Wolf 0-0 0-0 0-0 2 2 0
14 Gavin Wilburn 0-1 0-1 0-0 2 0 0
40 Alex Stout 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1 0
12 Ty Stroud 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1 0
Totals 9-28 15-44 5-6 18 18 44
BEDFORD NL STARS (73)
3s FGs FTs R F Pts
10 Patric Matson, f 2-3 9-14 0-0 6 2 20
31 Logan Miracle, f 0-0 5-6 0-2 6 1 10
11 Noah Godlevske, g 4-7 6-11 0-0 1 0 16
1 Trace Rynders, g 1-2 3-4 0-0 1 2 4
12 Maddox Ray, g 0-0 2-3 0-0 1 2 4
22 Isaiah Sasser 0-0 3-3 0-2 2 4 6
3 Quincy Pickett 0-0 1-1 2-2 0 0 4
40 Kline Woodward 0-0 0-0 0-2 3 0 0
5 Dax Short 0-0 0-1 3-4 2 2 3
20 Jonah Bailey 0-0 1-1 0-0 0 1 2
Totals 8-12 30-44 5-12 27 14 73
Martinsville 7 10 11 16 – 44
Bedford NL 16 17 19 21 – 73
Turnovers – Martinsville 15, BNL 14
Technical foul – H. Stroud
Field goal percentage – Martinsville 15-44 (.341); BNL 30-44 (.682)
Free throw percentage – Martinsville 5-6 (.833); BNL 5-12 (.417)
