By Kyle Roberts
RICHWOOD, La. — Three games in three nights is a lot to ask of any basketball team.
Factor in a shorter roster against a deep Richwood team, and it spelled trouble for Ruston High as the Bearcats (0-3) fell to the Richwood Rams (2-0) by a final score of 84-42.
Ruston was tied with Richwood 11-11 at the end of the first quarter but were outscored 23-9 in the second to trail 34-20 at halftime. Things would get no better in the second half after the Rams scored 34 points in the third quarter alone en route to the win.
“We were out-manned tonight,” Ruston High assistant coach Corey Deans said. “They were bigger, faster and stronger than us. Once we got into foul trouble, we just didn’t have any substitutes to match what they were bringing in. They were bringing in five guys at a time and press us the whole game. And when our guards got a little tired, they ran off on us.”
Ruston High sophomore Keshun Malcolm scored in double figures for the third straight game, finishing with 17 points and going 9-of-10 from the free throw line.
“He’s coming into his own,” Deans said of Malcolm. “He believes he’s the best player on the floor, and it’s only going to get better for him when the rest of the (football players) come back, because right now the other teams are doubling and tripling on him defensively. But through that, he’s still putting up numbers, taking good shots and playing within the offense.”
Ruston’s 0-3 start is not what the staff had in mind, but Deans did say that there are positive takeaways from this week.
“So far, our offense has looked really good when we’re running all our sets,” Deans said. “And we can do everything defensively except for rebound. The guys we’ve played against are a little bit older and can push us around a little bit. But as far as competing and executing, man, I love it.”
