Ladue Dismantles Clayton in Tournament Opener

Arch rivals, the Ladue Rams met the Clayton Greyhounds the day after Christmas in the 2013 MICDS Holiday Tournament at different levels. Ladue are seeded #2 and Clayton at #15. The two teams have now met each other 3 seasons in a row in tournaments before they play their annual conference game. Ladue has beaten Clayton in all of them by double digits.

The Rams started out slow, but toppled the Greyhounds in a 69-41 rout. Big Andrew Maddock led the way with 17 points with 10 rebounds against the smaller Greyhounds. Cornell Johnston got 13 points with 8 assists, which is a season high, and 5 steals. Junior Jordan Cosby had 11 points and 9 of them came virtue of 3 pointers, hitting 3 of 4. Connor Spirtas had his best overall game with 9 points, 3 assists, and 4 steals. He also hit his first 3 pointer of the season and went 2 of 2 on the night from 3 point land.

Although the game was a blowout, the Greyhounds won the opening tip and got a 4th chance point to open the game up when 6'2 forward Nick Bax missed a layup, then 2 put backs, and finally got his 3rd shot to go. However Ladue recovered and Johnston hit a 3, but Clayton answered with some acrobatic and uncharacteristic shots of their own. That was the only time they threatened in the first half.

Ladue then took advantage of Clayton off of 3 straight unforced turnovers. Clayton had committed 119 turnovers coming into the game having played seven. The Rams, as they should have, took advantage of them. A couple of half court traps that forced turnovers created fast breaks, transition buckets, and drew fouls. Before anyone knew it, the Rams were ahead 39-23 at halftime and outscored the Greyhounds 24-11 in the 2nd quarter.

However the 3rd quarter was closer than expected and Clayton kept it at a respectable scoreline, but when the 4th quarter came around it was all Rams from there on out as they ran away with it.

There were three players I thought improved a lot in this game. They were previously mentioned Connor Spirtas and Jordan Cosby, and then there was Nahom Assefa.

Assefa had a career high in points with 8 and looked particularly impressive with his mid-range shooting by swishing 2 baseline set shots. He also finished with 4 rebounds.

Jordan Cosby seems to be developing into a shooting guard role at the moment. He is taking more 3 point shots as the games have gone on. This is his second straight game in which he scored in double figures and is shooting the ball better than he was in the first 2 weeks of the season.

Connor Spirtas looks as if he has changed his shot. Whatever he did, it worked. He had been on a 3 pointer drought up until this game and he promptly sank two 3 pointers. Plus he was very involved in the game. He drew 2 offensive fouls and collected 4 steals. Spirtas and Cosby were a combined 5 of 6 behind the arc against the Greyhounds, whom by the way hit only 1 3 point shot on the night as a team.

The Rams as a team shot 44% from the field and hit 10 of their 16 free throw attempts. A lot of them came in the first half. They were 7 of 16 from 3 point land as well.

Overall I thought Ladue would come out a little cold since they had a 12 day hiatus thanks to Normandy canceling the game last Saturday because their players had to take their S.A.T's. However the Rams shot well and simply outplayed their old rivals, who could possibly see the Rams again in the D.C. Wilcutt Tournament at CBC High School. If not, then the Rams will see them at their place in February with a packed gym at Clayton High School.

Next up for Ladue will be the Whitfield Warriors, the #10 seed, who also has a lot of recent history with the Rams. This will be a tough one because the Warriors (5-1) looked really solid against Parkway South, who are seeded higher than Whitfield in the tournament at #7. Ladue does have a 2 game winning streak spanning 2 seasons against the Warriors and both wins came in separate tournaments.