By Kyle Roberts
Never in doubt.
Even as No. 15 East St. John put up a respectable first quarter in the Ruston High School Main Gym Tuesday night, No. 2 Ruston outscored the Wildcats 48-18 in the second and third quarters to give the Bearcats a commanding 75-35 win at home and a shot to continue a postseason run.
The Bearcats came off of a 10-day break after earning a first round bye, and Ruston head coach Ryan Bond commented on how it gave Ruston time to improve on some key areas heading into the playoffs.
“We talked about how we had picked up some bad habits on the defensive end,” Bond said. “And we really stressed it. I’m so proud of them. They locked in defensively. East St. John came out, and they were ready to go. But you could just see when we started tightening up the screws on the defensive end. They got tighter; they couldn’t get to their spots; they couldn’t get to offensive rebounds because we finished defensive possessions with a rebound most of the time. And even when they did get the offensive rebound, we were there to contest all those shots.
“That’s been my motto ever since I got into coaching— that we’re going to guard. Tonight, we played an overall 32 minutes. I’m so proud of them, and I’m lucky to get to coach team.”
East St. John open the ball game with a pair of consecutive layups, first off the opening tip and then from a steal on the ensuing possession to take a 4-0 lead. Ruston would utilize a 7-0 run to take its first lead of the night with 3:24 to go in the first. After only surrendering the lead to one time, the second quarter offensive output would prove the difference on the night, punctuated by thunderous alley-oop slam by senior Braylan McNeal from sophomore Jordan Parker with 3:05 to go before the half that led to a thunderous roar by the Ruston fans in attendance.
The Bearcats would be treated to another high volume moment as Cannon Robbins knocked down a three pointer as the buzzer expired in the third quarter, sending Bearcat fans into a frenzy to give Ruston a 59-25.
Ruston would extend to enough of a lead in the fourth quarter to force a running clock for the remainder of the night en route to the 75-35 win.
McNeal led all scorers with 18 points, while sophomore Aiden Anding finished with 13 points after draining three three-pointers.
Despite the height advantage that East St. John held over Ruston, the Bearcats used a tenacious defense to stymie any sort of offensive rhythm for the Wildcats and turned out an offensive onslaught to the delight of the spectators in the crowd.
“We’re not skyscrapers or body building, but we’ve got big hearts,” Bond said. “They want to be special. We’ve hopefully got about 10 or 11 days left in our season, and we’ll see what can happen.”
Ruston will host the winner of the No. 7 Barbe and No. 10 Southside for a chance to return to the semifinals for the first time since 1988, the same year as Ruston’s last state championship. The game is set for Friday, March 3.
