Bedford North Lawrence boys basketball eases by Evansville Memorial
BEDFORD — There is one very positive bright spot to a day when a basketball team does many things to let a game nearly slip away, and that is it means it can also do many good things to hang on and win.
Such was life for Bedford North Lawrence Saturday afternoon at BNL Fieldhouse in a 54-52 triumph over Evansville Memorial in an extremely well-played boys basketball duel.
The Stars allowed most of an 11-point lead to melt away, but they made enough clutch baskets, including buzzer-beaters at the end of the second and third quarters, and converted just enough key free throws in the fourth period to draw back even at 7-7.
Junior guard Colton Staggs scored a game-high 20 points and junior guard Colten Leach added 13 points, seven rebounds, four steals and three assists for the Stars, who shot 51 percent from the field and hit six 3-pointers, one more than Memorial, which fired at a 53-percent clip from the field and went 15 for 20 at the stripe..
"We've been there before, but this time we won," BNL head coach Jeff Hein said of the leads getting away. "We got really good contributions from every kid we put in there. We were in really bad foul trouble almost the whole game and I had to play more zone than we have all year because of it.
"I don't really like to do that, but we just had too many kids with fouls, but we battled and made big plays and big shots. It was a great game and Memorial played hard and kept coming back on us, but we found a way.
"And with the foul trouble we were in, to find a way to win that one, says a lot about the kids. I'm really proud of their effort."
Stars lose lead in 3rd, win at line in 4th
BNL grabbed a 34-29 edge going to the fourth quarter when Jett Jones came up with a steal and whipped a court-length pass to Kole Bailey, who turned on his wide receiver jets and laid it in at the buzzer.
It was a significant momentum swing for the Stars, who were thoroughly outplayed in the third quarter after dominating the second with a scintillating stretch to seize a 28-17 halftime lead. Leach capped the big run by burying a deep 3-pointer (BNL's fourth of the quarter, two by Rynders) at the buzzer off a broken play.
It went south in the third quarter when BNL missed four consecutive 3-point attempts to start the second half, and turned it over on the fifth possession.
Freshman guard Luke Ellspermann pumped in seven points and big man Evan Harding muscled in five to cut it to 30-29. But BNL closed with a strong drive by Staggs and Bailey's big basket to bump it back to 34-29.
"Bailey played well today and had a bunch of big hustle plays for us," Hein said. "That basket at the end of the third quarter was really big to get it back to five and kind of get us going back in the right direction. Jett played a really good game, too. He deflected a lot of balls, got us five rebounds, and he played good defense.
"He isn't the most athletic kid, but he's smart and understands the game. Coach (Bob) Knight used to always say 'Mental is to physical as 4 is to 1' and that's what you get with Jett. He gets himself in good position and makes plays."
Still, the Stars had to go back to being just friends with the 3-point shot.
"We definitely fell too in love with the 3-pointer starting the second half," Hein said. "I think they forgot where the basket was, thinking maybe there was one out by the center circle somewhere. They weren't bad shots, but when you aren't knocking them down a lead can disappear in a hurry.
"I took a timeout and said to get some paint touches, either by driving the ball or passing it, and we did a better job of it and got to the line."
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Memorial was whistled for just two fouls to BNL's nine in the opening half, but the Stars started driving and began to earn some calls. Then the Tigers had to press and start fouling in hopes of stretching the game. BNL missed a few that allowed Memorial to linger in striking range, but it also converted 12 of 18 from the stripe in the fourth to hang on.
Staggs hit 7 of 8 from the line down the stretch, but the determined Tigers stayed in it behind the shooting of Leo Collins, who swished two treys and had eight points in the quarter.
Bailey scored off a press-beating pass from Trace Rynders, but Ellspermann bolted in to cut it to 54-52, and Bailey was fouled with :10.2 seconds left. His two tries rolled off and Memorial hurried the other way. Ellsperman eschewed a 3-point try and drove the lane, but his 12-footer runner rattled off as the horn sounded.
Leach locks down Agler
A big key to BNL's victory was the defense of Leach on Memorial's leading scorer, senior guard Connor Agler, in the first half while hounded by BNL's superb stopper. Agler came in averaging a team-best15.6 ppg. He managed only one shot attempt in the opening half, missing a trifecta, and wound up with three points on 1 for 6 shooting.
"Leach played great defense on him in the first half, and the zone did a great job in the second half," Hein said. "It was a great team defensive effort today. Agler got nothing against Leach, and then the zone moved to him well and forced him to give it up or take tough shots.
"It really was a total team win. Staggs scored 20 points and obviously played very well, did a great job at the line, but a lot of those points came from teammates doing things to get him in scoring position.
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Ellspermann led the Tigers (9-8) with 17 points and Collins finished with 14. Memorial hosts Evansville Reitz Tuesday night.
Rugged stretch next for Stars
Bailey wound up with nine points, Rynders added six and Jones pulled in five rebounds for BNL (7-7), which heads into a brutal stretch of games Tuesday night at Class A No.5 Loogootee (13-4). That's followed by a rescheduled game at Jeffersonville (4-8) on Thursday, and a trip to Class 3A No.12 Brownstown (14-3) on Friday. Then there's a country rivalry make-up game at Mitchell (6-8) on Tuesday, Feb. 15, a trip to New Albany (9-7) on Friday, Feb. 18, and a home contest with Evansville North (8-8) on Saturday, Feb. 19.
That's six games in 12 days.
"This was a big win for us heading into this stretch of games," Hein said. "Six games in 12 or 13 games is a tough thing for any team. Loogootee is a tough place to win, Jeffersonville is, too, and so is Brownstown. Mitchell is playing well and you have to go to New Albany.
"But we've missed so many games that we just really need to play. We learned from the Floyd Central loss and tried to do some of those things better today. We'll take things we learned from this game and use them in the next one, and just continue to work, learn and get better.
"We had a stretch similar to this last year and we really played our way nicely into the tournament and got to a sectional championship game. That's how we're going to look at it now, to play hard and build for the tournament."
Contact Times-Mail Sports Writer Jeff Bartlett at jeffb@tmnews.com, or on Twitter @jeffbtmnews.com.
BEDFORD NL 54, EVANSVILLE MEMORIAL 52
Evansville Memorial (52)
Tornatta, f 1-5 2-3 4, Collins f 5-7 1-1 14, Harding c 3-6 3-3 9, Agler g 1-6 1-2 3, L. Ellspermann g 6-73-5 17, Anderson 1-1 3-3 5, Norman 0-0 0-3 0, C. Ellspermann 0-0 0-0 0, Graham 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 17-32 15-20 52.
Bedford North Lawrence (54)
Bennett f 1-5 0-0 3, Jones f 1-1 0-0 3, Leach g 5-10 2-5 13, Rynders g 2-4 0-0 6, Staggs g 6-10 7-8 20, Nikirk 0-0 0-0 0, Bailey 3-5 3-6 9. Totals 18-35 12-19 54.
Evansville Memorial (9-8) 10 | 7 | 12 | 23 — 52
Bedford NL (7-7) 12 | 16 | 6 | 20 — 54
3-point goals: Memorial 5-12 (Collins 3-5, L. Ellersmann 2-2, Tornatta 0-2, Harding 0-1, Agler 0-2); Bedford NL 6-16 (Staggs 1-4 Bennett 1-4, Jones 1-1, Leach 1-1, Rynders 2-4, Bailey 0-2). Rebounds: Floyd Central 24 (Celichowski 7); Bedford NL 14 (Leach 8). Turnovers: Floyd Central 11, Bedford NL 4.Total fouls: Floyd Central 10, Bedford NL 12.
This article originally appeared on The Times-Mail: Bedford North Lawrence boys basketball bumps off Evansville Memorial
