Bearcats blow out Ouachita

Ruston’s stingy half-court defense, along with a balanced scoring attack, led to a 73-43 win over the Ouachita Lions on Friday, moving Ruston to 13-4 overall and 3-0 in district play.

The Bearcats, winners of six in a row, have held their last five opponents under 50 points and are hitting their stride at the right moment as the 2-5A race will come down to Ruston and the ASH Trojans, who also remain unbeaten in district.

As for Friday’s matchup, the visiting Lions came in with an unblemished district record as well, led by freshman standout Darren Ford, averaging over 20 ppg. But Ruston had something special for Ford and Ouachita on the defensive end, specifically the Lockdown Offices of Aidan, Hudson, and Malcom, as the Bearcats’ stars and bench pieces alike locked in defensively to hold Ford to just 11 points individually and the Lions to a season-low in points.

RHS coach Corey Deans was happy to earn the win but still felt the Bearcats have more to show defensively.

“I’ll have to go watch the film. I didn’t think we played good on our assignments,” Deans said. “I think we got lucky some of their guys missed some shots. But it could be we were running a new offense and it took some of their legs away running the offense.”

Ruston sophomore Ahmad Hudson finished with 15 points, 8 rebounds, 5 assists, and 3 blocks, while fellow sophomore KeShun Malcom scored 18 points with a trio of three-pointers. Aidan Anding had 9 points and 3 steals, along with being the main assignment on Ford, working as the main force for Ford to pick up three personal fouls less than 20 minutes into the game.

The Bearcats were locked in an early fight, trailing 9-5 midway through the first quarter. But a 13-2 run to the end the frame by Ruston, led by a pair of threes from Zatterion Sutton and Malcom, along with a transition dunk from Hudson, put Ruston ahead 18-11 after one.

It was all she wrote.

Ouachita was held scoreless for over a six-minute stretch in the second quarter as Ford went scoreless in the frame entirely. The Lions managed two field goals in the frame, one in the first 30 seconds of the quarter and the other coming with under a minute left. Ruston, meanwhile, showed aggressiveness offensively with six free-throw makes, along with a three from Anding to pull ahead 31-16 at halftime. By the break, Ruston had four three-pointers to Ouachita’s two.

Ruston poured it on in the third as Sutton scored 8 with a pair of threes and a short jumper, while Malcom had 7 in the frame. Zheric Hill’s three made it a 48-24 game with 3:00 left in the third, giving the Bearcats seven triples entering the fourth.

“I told you every game we’re getting a little more comfortable with offense,” Deans said. “Every week, we’re adding another set to come with the old sets. When teams scout us, we got offense they haven’t seen before. All the guys are getting a little more comfortable.”

All five seniors (Anding, Hill, Joran Parker, Fabian Stringfellow, CJ Malone) played in the Senior Night win. Malone scored 5 in the fourth – nailing a corner three to send the home fans into a frenzy before the deep bench reserves came in.

Deans sung the praises of his senior class following the win.

“A lot of those guys have been four-year starters. Zheric Hill has been playing for four years. JP [Joran Parker] and Aidan [Anding] have been starting for four years, so they got a lot of playing experience,” Deans said. “Running the system is not hard for them. They’re comfortable playing basketball.”

Ruston is on the road at Winnfield (9-6) on Tuesday.