By Kyle Roberts
MONROE, La. — Not many teams can boast they held the Ouachita Lions to only three points in a quarter — and certainly not in the Mad House.
But that’s exactly what Ruston did Tuesday night in a 47-36 road win over the Lions, with sophomore Ahmad Hudson putting up another dominating scoring performance with 24-point performance to lead all scorers.
“I think we ran our offense well and slowed down their possessions,” Ruston High acting-head coach Corey Deans said. “We played more zone tonight than we have in any game all year. That caught (Ouachita) off-guard a little bit.”
Ruston took a 6-3 lead after the first quarter after getting baskets from Hudson, senior Aidan Anding, and sophomore Keshun Malcolm.
The Bearcats added 15 points in the second quarter to take a 21-18 lead into the halftime locker room, thanks in part to eight points from Hudson. Malcolm added five more with a two-point basket and a three-pointer, while senior C.J. Malone added another basket.
Hudson poured in eight more points in the third quarter, with both Malcolm and Anding added a basket apiece to put Ruston up 33-26 going into the fourth quarter.
Malcolm and Hudson then combined for all of Ruston’s points in the fourth, scoring seven and six points, respectively to put the Bearcats over the top at 47-36.
“Our starting five did a really good job slowing them down,” Deans said. “I don’t feel like we had any mistakes in the first half. We always come out strong in the first quarter, and I think we played well throughout the entire night tonight. Running our offense the way we did really helped us out.”
Hudson’s 24 points led all scorers while Malcolm added 16 points.
The Bearcats have one more regular season game Friday, Feb. 14, at West Monroe. Tip off will be right after the varsity girls’ game, which will be at 5:30 p.m.
“I really want us to keep executing on offense and playing as hard as we can on defense,” Deans said in conclusion. “If we do that, we have a chance to beat anybody.”
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