CATNIP: Ruston dominates Lions in district showdown
by Malcolm Butler
Sophomore Delaney Mason put the exclamation mark on Friday night’s Ruston win.
Mason grabbed a loose basketball, split a couple of Ouachita defenders, and dribbled the length of the court before throwing down a two-handed dunk to cap Ruston’s 73-42 win over the Lions at RHS Gym.
It was a fitting end to a dominating performance by Ruston (13-4, 3-0).
The Bearcats led almost start to finish as Keshun Malcolm scored 18 points, Ahmad Hudson added 15 points and Zaterrion Sutton chipped in with 13 points.
When Ruston wasn’t draining one of its 10 three-pointer on the night or scoring around the rim, the Bearcats were causing chaos on the defensive end against Ouachita (17-7, 2-1).
Between Ruston’s D and Lions freshman phenom Darren Ford, son of LA Tech basketball alums Amber Obaze Ford and Daryl Ford, slowed by foul trouble most of the night, Ouachita simply never mounted much of an offensive attack.
Despite holding Ouachita to 42 points, acting head coach Corey Deans didn’t think his team was stellar on that end of the floor.
“I have to go watch the film,” said Deans. “I didn’t think we played good assignment defense. I thought we got lucky and some of their guys missed some shots. But we could have taken some of their legs away running our offense.”
Ford converted the rare four-point play midway through the opening quarter to give Ouachita a 9-5 advantage, but the Bearcats answered by finishing the stanza on a 13-2 run capped by a Hudson dunk in transition in the waning seconds.
Ford picked up his second foul less than a minute into the second quarter, forcing him to go to the bench and the Bearcats made the Lions pay. Malcolm and Hudson combined for six straight points to push the lead to 26-13 and then Aidan Anding drained a corner three-pointer with 3:25 to play to extend it to 29-13.
Ouachita re-inserted Ford into the lineup and the freshman was whistled for his third foul less than a minute later, once again sending him to the bench.
Ruston held the Lions without a field goal for almost seven minutes of the second quarter as the Bearcats led 31-16 at the break.
“Every game we are getting a little bit more comfortable with our offense,” said Deans. “Every week we add another set so when teams scout us, there are things they haven’t seen.”
Ford scored early in the third quarter for the Lions but then picked up his fourth foul with 6:47 to play in the stanza.
With Ruston leading 38-22 with 5 minutes to play in the third, Malcolm took over the game for the next two minutes. The sophomore guard went coast-to-coast to score in transition and then completed a conventional three-point play 40 seconds later. He then capped the one-man scoring spree with a reverse layup, upping the RHS advantage to 45-22 with 3:20 to play in the third and forcing a Ouachita timeout.
Zheric Hill drained a three and Sutton scored five straight as Ruston led 53-30 entering the fourth.
“We have been working in practice on sharing the basketball; driving and kicking,” said Deans. “The guys are not selfish, they just don’t always know how to make reads. The more we work on it, the better we are going to get. I think we got a lot better (tonight).”
The final stanza saw another highlight dunk by Hudson in transition, a long three-pointer by Hill, and even a trifecta by Hudson. However, the capacity crowd which had plenty to cheer all night about erupted on Delaney’s dunk in the closing minutes.
“(Delaney) got a lot of playing time before the football guys came back out,” said Deans. “We had 13 JV games so he has plenty playing a lot in those. I told Coach Jackson that I felt it was important to play a lot of JV games for those guys who may not play a lot of varsity. They can stay in rhythm and can come in and produce.”
Anding added nine points and Hill eight for the Bearcats.
Ford led Ouachita with 11.
Lady Bearcats struggle in loss to Lions
by Malcolm Butler
Senior Night was not one to remember for Ruston.
The Lady Bearcats (9-12, 1-2) struggled all night to knock down shots as the home team fell 44-30 to District 2-5A foe Ouachita (18-6, 3-0) at RHS Gym.
“We couldn’t get it together mentally,” said Ruston High coach LaShanda Cooper. “On offense or defense. We missed a lot of defensive assignments. We didn’t get many plays run like we should have.
“We knew they were going to play full court man-to-man and we have seen this before with some of the teams we have played. We felt we would be prepared for this type of team, but we just could not execute.”
Angelica Green and Bailee Harrison each netted four points in the opening quarter for Ruston as the two teams found themselves tied at 9-9 after the opening quarter of play. Kiersynce McNeal scored five points in the second quarter, including a conventional three-point play with 6:42 to play to give Ruston a 14-12 lead.
However, Ouachita used a 7-0 run and ended the half on a 11-4 run to take a 23-18 lead into the halftime locker room.
Ruston’s guards found seams in the Lions defense for much of the night, but the Lady Bearcats weren’t able to get shots to fall consistently … even at point blank range.
“Offensively, we got a lot of good looks,” said Cooper. “The ball just wouldn’t fall. And when it’s not your night, then it’s not your night. It hurts a little bit more when it’s on senior night or when it’s one of the bigger games. I felt like this was a big district game for us, but we just didn’t execute.”
The Lions were able to extend their lead in the third quarter, outscoring Ruston 12-6 to push the advantage to 35-14.
The Lady Bearcats forced initial misses by the Lions throughout the night, but Ouachita got second chance opportunities thanks to their offensive rebounding. It was one of the big differences in the game, according to the Ruston first year head coach.
“We felt like they couldn’t handle a zone defense,” said Cooper. “We wanted to slow them down instead of speed them up. We played zone to give them more of a thinking type game to make them make a decision.
“(Rebounding) has been killing us all year. Nothing went right. Missed box outs. Them getting second chance opportunities, over and over and over again. It hurts when it’s multiple people, and it’s not just one mixed box out. When you aren’t boxing out as a team, it can cost you at the end. That’s exactly what happened to us.”
McNeal cut the deficit to 35-26 on a baseline drive on the first possession of the fourth quarter, but the Lady Bearcats simply couldn’t mount enough offense to ever threaten the Lions.
In addition to McNeal’s 13 points and 10 rebounds, Harrison added 10 points for the Lady Bearcats.
Malaysha Scott led Ouachita with 12 points.
