By T. Scott Boatright
A hometown hero returns to Ruston tonight as the Parkview High School Patriots from Little Rock, Arkansas, head south to take on the RHS Bearcats inside Scotty Robertson Memorial Gym on the Louisiana Tech University campus.
Tip-off for that contest is set for 6 p.m. today.
That hometown hero is Scotty Thurman, a former hoops standout at Ruston High, where he was was president of the student body his senior year and was a regular on the school’s honor roll.
Thurman then moved on to play for the University of Arkansas, where as a Razorback from 1992-96 he may be best known for a late 3-pointer to give the Hogs the lead for good in the 1994 national championship game against Duke.
During his three-year Arkansas career, Thurman scored 1,650 points and currently ranks 10th on the school’s all-time scoring list.
Thurman remains the only player in Arkansas history to be named to the All-SEC first team three times, and continues to hold Arkansas’ single-season record for 3-pointers in a season with 102 and also ranks second on the career 3-point chart with 267.
After college, Thurman played 11 seasons of professional basketball overseas in Lebanon, Greece, Cyprus and Italy. His successful pro career came to a close after the 2006 season.
Thurman, who has coached at Parkview since 2019, had led the Patriots to a 12-12 record so far this season while Ruston head coach Ryan Bond has guided his Bearcats to a 13-8 mark so far this season.
Bond, who played for Louisiana Tech from 1992-96, first got to know when the pair were both playing high school hoops in north Louisiana (Bond graduated from Weston) and the two especially first connected when Thurman would return home to Ruston during his playing days and they’d get together for some pick-up action.
“We’d play pick-up ball against each other in the early ’90s, and back when I was in high school and he was as well, we’d both go to the (Louisiana) Tech individual camps and we saw each other there some,” Bond said. “Obviously, everybody at Ruston and Louisiana Tech kept up with Scotty when he was playing at Arkansas and then getting into coaching.”
Thurman has his own memories of first meeting, and actually getting to play with, Bond.
“We first got to kind of know each other at the (Louisiana High School Athletic Association) All-State game after our senior seasons,” Thurman said. “And our paths have crossed every now and then over the years.
“Ryan and I might not talk a whole lot, but we do sometimes. and we’re always willing to help each other out and that kind of thing, so it’s going to be really good to go down there for this game. It’s something I’m really looking forward to.”
Bond said he saw bringing a hometown hero in Thurman back to his old stomping grounds seemed a good move for both Ruston’s and Parkview’s basketball programs.
“I reached out to him the first time I don’t know when — maybe out three years ago — about trying to do this,” Bond said. “We had trouble finding a compatible date for both teams. We finally found a date that we played the exhibition on last year and finally this year we got something worked out where they could come here during the regular season.”
“For me personally, I think it’s neat that he gets to come back home to where he’s still got so much family and gets to coach in front of them. I wish we were playing the game at (the RHS) campus, but that’s impossible with all of the construction going (at the school’s gym).”
While Thurman realizes the experience will be different for him, he’s also hopeful it will be fun.
“I’ve had an opportunity to watch the Bearcats some on video, and they look like a really good team,” Thurman said. “They look like a good team and we believe we’re a good team and playing well at the moment, so we’re going to step out of conference for a little bit and try to build on that going up against some out-of-state competition we know is going to be good.”
Bond has similar feelings concerning tonight’s showdown between the Bearcats and Patriots.
“They’re a really good team,” Bond said about Thurman’s Patriots. “They’ve played a tough schedule. Their best player (Dallas Thomas) is going to Clemson. He’s about a 6-9 kid. He can post up, put the ball on the floor and hit 3-pointers.
“But he’s not the only one, they’ve got a lot of good players. They play multiple defenses that they change up a lot.
Thomas, who holds a 3.5 GPA, averaged 17 points, 10 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 2.1 points per game for Parkview last season.
Bond hopes bringing Thurman home with a team from another state will build a solid excitement surrounding the game.
“I sure hope so,” Bond said. “I hope we have a good crowd come out to show Scotty some love and support. He’s one of the best basketball players to ever come through Ruston.
“We’ve got a good team, too. We stumbled a little bit on Friday at Ouachita, but we still have a good team with a lot to play for. We made too many mistakes on Friday, but we’re still the team that won 11 in a row. We’re going to continue to work and bounce back and go out and compete the best we can against Scotty’s team.”
While Thurman is focused on his team and their game against the Bearcats, he admits a personal Homecoming will be a good thing, too.
“I talk to my family in Ruston a lot,” Thurman said. “I think the last time I was able to make it back home was three or four months ago. I try to get down there periodically just to see family.
“My daughter (Romani Thurman) is at North Carolina this year (where she plays volleyball for the Tar Heels), and that’s made it a little different and harder, so I don’t haven’t gotten down there as much as I would have liked to. But I do every chance I get, which is what makes this opportunity so good and exciting. It should be a lot of fun.”
