By Kyle Roberts
Finding their stride at the right time, the No. 8 Ruston High Bearcats (17-9) will play host to the No. 25 Barbe Buccaneers tonight at Memorial Gym on the campus of Louisiana Tech University for the first round the 2024 LHSAA state basketball playoffs.
“The playoffs are a time when you have to respect everyone,” Ruston High head coach Ryan Bond said. “When I watch Barbe, I see a team that plays hard and doesn’t let bad plays affect them. They are solid on the defensive end of the floor. Our guys are excited about (tonight).”
Following district play, Ruston beat both Dunham and Lakeview in the final week of the regular season, allowing them to climb up to eighth in the rankings, meaning that if they can beat Barbe tonight they will host the winner of No. 9 H.L. Bourgeois and No. 24 Central Lafourche.
Barbe comes in with a 15-9 record overall, winning four of its last five games.
“The last two weeks, we’ve kind of cleaned up some things that we were doing wrong there in district,” Ruston head coach Ryan Bond said Monday after the playoff pairings were announced. “We lost a couple of games that we shouldn’t have, but, you know, you learn from that. We’re excited about the playoffs— we’re familiar with Barbe. They came up last year in the quarterfinals, and they’ve got a couple of kids back. They’re well-coached.”
Tip off is set for 6 p.m.
