LAKE CHARLES – The drought continues.
Ruston’s hopes of a long-awaited ending to its 38-year quest to win another boys basketball state championship will have to wait at least one more year.
The Bearcats (23-4) lost a heartbreaker to No. 1 seed Zachary, 63-60, in the Division I Non-Select state championship game at Burton Coliseum Saturday night.
As they struggled shooting the ball all night against Zachary’s athletic defense, junior center Ahmad Hudson nearly willed the Bearcats to a state championship. The 6-foot-7 superstar was brilliant, turning in nearly a triple-double with 34 points, 24 rebounds, seven blocks and four steals.
Ruston coach Marcus Jackson described Hudson’s production Saturday night as “huge” and said that he put on a “heck of a performance.”
“He can definitely change the game by the way he plays,” Jackson said. “He’s effective in multiple ways and can put teams in bad positions.”
Zachary (30-2) held the lead for most of the game, tying the game at 15 with a buzzer-beating 3-pointer by junior Ian Edmond at the end of the first quarter and taking the lead on a layup by junior Ethan Kimmie less than 30 seconds into the second quarter.
The Broncos maintained that lead throughout the second and third quarters, leading by six at the break and by as many as 10 midway through the third quarter.
However, behind stellar play from Hudson and sophomore guard Darren Ford, the second-seeded Bearcats chipped away at Zachary’s lead. They cut it to three late in the third quarter on a Hudson layup before Zachary pushed it back to 47-41 with a 3-pointer at the buzzer following one of Ruston’s turnovers.
Despite picking up his fourth foul early in the fourth quarter, Hudson continued to impose his will against the Broncos. He scored three straight baskets, including an and-1 at the 6:11 mark to cut Zachary’s lead to three. Following a Ford basket, Hudson’s putback with just under five minutes remaining in the game gave the Bearcats a 50-49 lead, their first since the first quarter.
Zachary responded with four straight points before Ruston junior Keshun Malcolm scored his only bucket of the game, and Hudson’s monster two-handed slam put the Bearcats back on top 54-53 with 3:33 to play.
But the Broncos, as they had all night, responded with clutch buckets, retaking the lead at the 3:05 mark and again with 2:34 left. It’s a lead they wouldn’t relinquish as they made their free throws and forced Ruston to take tough, contested shots down the stretch.
Edmond, who led the Broncos with 20 points on 6-of-20 shooting, was named the game’s Most Outstanding Player as Zachary repeated as state champions for the second time in the past six years.
The Broncos got much-needed contributions from eight different players, who combined to shoot 42 percent from the field and 41 percent from 3. Kimmie added 12 points, while junior Mason Newman finished with 11.
Ruston, meanwhile, got extremely little production on the offensive end from anyone other than Hudson and Ford, who combined for 51 of the Bearcats’ 60 points. Malcolm (seven points) and junior Jasen Morgan (two points) were the only other Ruston players to score.
“I feel like I could have done a lot more,” said Ford, who scored 13 of his 19 points in the first half. “If we didn’t win the game, then I didn’t do enough.”
Hudson and Ford combined to knock down 19 of their 32 field-goal attempts, but the rest of the Bearcats connected on only two of their 21 shots. Ruston missed all 12 of its 3-point attempts in the game.
“Darren played well, made some shots and kept us in it early,” Jackson said. “I’m proud of ‘em. There’s times where they could have quit. They kept fighting back, climbing back in, climbing back in, climbing in, fighting through adversity.”
Jackson said early foul trouble forced the Bearcats to adjust their game plan, and they even played some zone defense for the first time all season. He credited the Broncos’ coaching staff for switching defenses and forcing the Bearcats into an uncharacteristic number of turnovers.
“They sped us up,” Jackson said. “We made a lot of unforced turnovers that we normally don’t make. That’s the highest turnovers we’ve had all year.”
Although they came up painfully short on Saturday night, the Bearcats celebrated their deepest playoff run in 38 years and have much to look forward to during the 2026-27 season. Backup point guard Zaterrion Sutton, who missed most of the season due to injury, was the only senior who saw the floor against Zachary, and seven of the nine players who did play Saturday will be seniors next year.
Hudson said he was proud of his teammates for the way they played Saturday and for an outstanding season. However, he and Ford already are looking forward to a possible rematch with the two-time defending champions.
“We will be back, and I hope it’s against Zachary – because I’m not gonna let that one slip away again,” Hudson said.
“I know how it feels to lose, so I don’t want to do that again,” Ford said.
