Camp Confidential

The center of the Louisiana high school basketball world was in Ruston over the weekend.

More than 50 teams, including Ruston High, Cedar Creek, Simsboro and Lincoln Prep, attended the inaugural Ruston Summer Hoops Classic Team Camp in partnership with the LHSAA at the Ruston Sports Complex.

Teams spent Friday and Saturday competing in at least three games, each with 20-minute, running-clock halves, giving players and coaches another evaluation period to see how roster pieces fit together and gauge who is willing to compete, even when the final score wouldn’t count.

Each parish program may sit in a different spot, but coaches say the camp served as a valuable learning experience to see where they stand as summer work continues.

Ruston Bearcats

Summer vacation? Not for Ryan Bond and these Bearcats.

After a 29-4 season and a trip to Sulphur for the first time since 1988, Ruston has spent its summer on the grind, working to keep the momentum going from the historic season — including at the Sports Complex.

“Summer is about evaluation. It’s an evaluation for players, it’s an evaluation for me — seeing how the pieces fit,” Ruston head coach Ryan Bond said Friday at the camp. “On paper, we’ve got a good group coming back. We want to build on the momentum of last year, but we can’t build on that momentum if we’re not putting the same kind of effort, the same kind of teamwork, if we’re not focusing on each other.”

The Bearcats faced Calvary Baptist, Red River and Haughton at the camp, featuring a new-look lineup after leading scorer Braylan McNeal graduated in May and is headed to college.

Standouts during the three games included returning starters Zhy Scott and Joran Parker, both expected to lead on and off the court come time for the regular season.

Incoming freshman Ahmad Hudson, standing 6-5 and 200 pounds, showed his natural physical ability will give him a real chance to produce early for the Bearcats as well.

Fellow freshman KeShun Malcom, a point guard, brought good court vision in his time on the floor and also impressed coaches with his leadership.

The weekend was one step in preparing for the season ahead, and Bond knows it will take time and effort to get to the standard the program expects.

“It is June; a lot of them are playing football, and I appreciate Coach Baugh letting the football- basketball guys come out here,” Bond said. “Fortunately, none of our games count yet, and we’re going to be there. I’m not going to allow us to play like we did today. We had some stretches –—the second half against Calvary I thought we were pretty close to what we normally are. Some pockets here and there in the next two games.”

Lincoln Prep Panthers

The Panthers will have to adjust to life without their three leading scorers from last season, but head coach Antonio Hudson knows his program has the bones to stay competitive.

Prep faced Loyola College Prep, Winnfield, Haughton and Southwood High School at the camp, needing to make up for a lack of overall size compared to most teams.

Moving on from Bralyn Mayfield (6-4) and Kobe Mack (6-3), will matter in more ways than figuring out who scores a bucket.

“We’ve always been a scrappy, defensive team,” Hudson said. “And we’ll have to be even better this year because we’re so small, smaller than we were last year. But we’ve got enough bodies where we can get people in and out.”

Who fills the void? Returning guards Amarje Young, Tre Spann and Stephen Burks all took turns scoring over the two days of games, each with unique approaches to hunt his shot and get teammates involved.

“We shouldn’t back away from anybody because we know we’re going to have to be nitty and gritty and fight to be able to compete the way we want to compete,” Hudson said.

Simsboro Tigers

The new sheriff in town got a better grasp on his team.

New Simsboro head coach Adam Wodach, hired in late May, still needs time to know the ins and outs of his squad but felt excited to see them continue their summer gauntlet with matchups against top teams in the state.

The Tigers played Evans, Oakdale, and Monterey on Saturday, seeing some good and some need to improve.

Overall, Wodach felt his squad got better where they needed to and tried to not make judgments on one camp.

“You can practice or you can play,” Wodach said. “I think games can bring out the worst in you at times so it shows us what we need to work on, but it also gets us together more. I mean, this much travel and game action, we’ve grown a lot just as a team from that.”

Simsboro went 16-18 last season under former head coach Randy Carlisle, with some players electing to leave the program and some returning to see how the new style works out.

Wodach will stay patient throughout the summer trying to get the program back on track.

“I think it’s about being patient and understanding your guys day by day,” Wodach said. “Nobody is going to ask us what happened June 17 in a loss at the Ruston Sports Complex. It’s about trying to find the little successes and continuing to find ourselves.”

Cedar Creek Cougars

Lance Waldron will take any opportunity to get the Cougars as many live reps as possible before the season arrives.

As he prepares for his second season leading Cedar Creek, Waldron paired his squad up with Bossier High School, Natchitoches Central, and Southwood at the Team Camp and thought the Cougars took what they needed from their competition.

“I felt like we took a lot away from this camp,” Waldron said. “Offensively, we grew a lot. It was an opportunity for us to see where we are as a team, what our weaknesses are and now we get to go back and work on those weaknesses.”

The Cougars had their ups and downs on the defensive end and rebounding — two areas Waldron admitted need to be addressed by the time the games count — but worked to play fast and got the ball moving.

“Going forward, the two things we need to improve on is our defense and our rebounding – two in the same really,” Waldron said. “We have a lot to work on. But that’s why we’re here. This was a great event for them to put together and have us all come out.”