Ruston dominates Richwood

Ruston showed the Richwood Rams what a full Bearcat lineup can do in a 66-42 win Friday night, improving the Bearcats to 8-3 on the season – now winners of eight straight.

The Rams beat Ruston by 42 in their first meeting back in November when Ruston was without its football stars but that success against the Bearcats didn’t carry over in the rematch as Ruston led end to end, never relinquishing its lead, even as Richwood cut Ruston’s advantage to 14-10 by the end of the first quarter.

The second quarter was the start of where Ruston pulled away, getting a pair of three pointers by Keshun Malcom, along with Joran Parker and Aidan Anding to push Ruston ahead 26-18. The Bearcats locked in defensively with force, holding the Rams to just 2 points over the next 7:30 of game clock between the end of the second quarter and midway through the third quarter to stretch the lead to 50-20 with 3:30 left in the third period.

By then, Ahmad Hudson had already delivered thunderous dunks as he blew by defenders in the block and Malcom continued to fire away from multiple spots.

Anding, Zheric Hill, and Hudson’s defensive awareness stifled any hope Richwood had as the Bearcats pulled their starters with over 4:00 to play in the game with a 62-34 lead.

“Defensively, it’s getting more and more to where I like it,” Ruston High coach Corey Deans said. “That second group that came in and Zheric Hill commanded the second group. Defense was stifling. We went in 14-15 points when he got in the game. He cut off all the water. That’s all Zheric Hill talking.”

Ruston ended the game on a 40-24 run over the final 18:30 of game action.

The defense was stout for Ruston in the second half but the offensive production from Hudson and Malcom flashed over and over again, with Malcom scoring 14 points in the second half, including a pair of threes in the fourth to ice the game. He’d finish with a game-high 26 points.

“He’s confident right now,” Deans said. “At first, he was kind of rebelling against me and now he’s really confident. He’s playing defense. He’s taking charges and rebounding. If he does those three things, then I don’t care about what kind of shot he takes.”

Hudson, fresh off back-to-back 30-point performances in the Doc Edwards Tournament, finished with 19 points, 14 rebounds, and 6 blocks – his sixth double-double in his eight games played this season.

“Ahmad can’t be guarded one-on-one. Even when we don’t run a play for him, he has the ability to go get 15 rebounds on the offensive side. He’s really athletic. He’s starting to understand. He’s starting to be coachable. He has a high IQ. I don’t have any adjectives to describe Ahmad Hudson.”

Zheric Hill added 5 points while Anding put up 3 points, 5 rebounds, and 3 steals.

Ruston returns to action on Tuesday to host the No. 1 (Division III select) Calvary Baptist Cavaliers (12-2) at the RHS gymnasium.