Ladue Rams Week in Review: D.C. Wilcutt Tournament

Coming off of a somewhat shock loss to Jennings at home on Friday night, the Ladue Rams were hoping to rebound quickly as they headed into the D.C. Wilcutt Tournament hosted by CBC. The Rams were 8-2 at that time.

Ladue was chosen as the #2 seed behind the hosts CBC. Last year the Rams shocked the St. Louis basketball area by beating CBC by two points thanks to a Jeremy Loftin 3 pointer to go ahead by one and then a huge charge by Connor Spirtas on Jordan Barnett. This year both teams were heavily favored to get a rematch of last years game.

The Rams first game was against Fort Zumwalt West who were coming off a surprising runner up finish in the St. Dominic Tournament after being winless going into it. However the Jaguars pack a nice punch.

At the start of the game, Zumwalt West were only taking blows as the Rams shot out to a 12-0 lead. They sped them up with a half court trap, which made the slower Jaguars uncomfortable. The Rams also took advantage of the Jags 2-3 zone by hitting open 3 pointers and finding room to score inside. However the Jags would climb back into the game and by the end of the first quarter it was only 21-15 in favor of the Rams.

Then by the middle of the second quarter Zumwalt West had a 6 point lead, but the Rams came back and took a 1 point lead into halftime. Part of the reason why the game was as close as it was is because of the fact that the Jags shot the heck out of the ball and the Rams let off of the pressure.

It picked back up though at the start of the 2nd half as the Rams got out to an 11 point lead. But credit Zumwalt West for never letting the game get out of hand. They kept knocking on the door, but the Rams had an answer. The game was finally put to bed when the Jaguars uncharacteristically through the ball out of bounds on a routine pass with under minute and threatening. Ladue won 74-63.

On a side note, Mark Rogers had one his best games of the year by hitting three 3 pointers, which is the most he has hit in one game thus far.

Next up for the Rams was the St. Charles West Warriors. This was the first time the two teams have met in the tournament since 2010 when the Warriors had Missouri State recruit Christian Kirk while Cornell Johnston and Andrew Maddock were in the 8th grade.

This game looked as if it was going to be a blowout, especially since star point guard Logan Gonce of the Warriors did not play. The Rams came out flat and the Warriors took advantage. The score was 18-12 Warriors after the first quarter were still ahead 27-23 at halftime.

The lead got up to as much as nine points, but mid-way through the 3rd quarter Ladue finally hit their stride and St. Charles West finally got cold. Johnston hit consecutive floaters in the lane to cut into the lead and then on a possession in which the Rams got two consecutive rebounds, Andrew Maddock hit a 3 pointer to cut the lead to 2 points.

The Rams then took a 6 point lead into the 4th quarter and road it out from there on out. The final score was 66-51.

Johnston finished with 23 points, 9 assists, and 4 steals. Maddock had 14 points to go with 9 rebounds. Jon Collins had perhaps his best game of the season with 11 points, 8 rebounds, and 2 steals.

Now Ladue got their rematch with CBC in a game that everybody wanted to see before the tournament started. Both schools got over hundreds of their respective student to come and their teams. Almost every seat was taken.

CBC scored first then Jeremy Loftin hit a 3 pointer on Ladue's ensuing possession. It looked like it was going to be a good one. Until CBC caught fire and had it with them for the rest of the night while the Ram's couldn't catch anything at all. The Cadets roared out to an astonishing 30-11 lead after one quarter. If felt like the Cadets couldn't miss. They even got the nice friendly role when their shots were off a little. To cap it off, Jordan Barnett, the 6'8" winger going to Texas, threw down a thunderous tomahawk dunk that sent the whole CBC student section into a rambunctious frenzy while falling over themselves all at once.

19 points was the biggest lead that Ladue had faced all year. They responded by coming out with a 4-0 run, but quickly answered by CBC. One big problem that the Rams had was Cornell Johnston's offensive input. It is safe to say that it was his worse offensive performance of the season. 1-13 from the field and 0-10 beyond the arc. Granted, he was swarmed by CBC defenders whenever he drove to basket. The Cadet's had much respect for Johnston coming into the game and they made sure that he wouldn't be much of a factor in the game. He still did get 9 assists. He finished with 5 points, which is a season low.

It was 45-26 at halftime, but Ladue had to be positive by the fact that they played even with CBC in the second quarter. But the flood gates opened again and stayed that way for the duration of the game. The final score was 81-46.

Next Week

The Rams are now 10-3 heading into perhaps the easiest week of the season. They play Holt (4-8) at Nielson Gymnasium on Wednesday and then at McClure South-Berkley (0-7) on Friday. Ladue will be glad to be playing at home again and glad that they won't have to travel all the way to Wentzville to play Holt like last year. Instead the Indians will have to travel down east on highway 40.

That is all for now.