Ladue Wins Season Opener over Farmington

The Ladue Rams started the 2013-2014 campaign slower than some might of thought for a #1 seed at the Vianney Invitational. However, they came out 63-44 winners in a game that appears to be very experimental for the Rams.

Ladue came out clearly wanting to make Farmington uncomfortable by pressing them early and often. They either forced turnovers or fouled. By half time 2 players had 3 fouls each and 3 others had 2 apiece. However, they never seemed to panic or be worried because of their depth. The Rams looks as they will go 9 deep in every game this year to wear out teams maximize the talent, which will be huge.

The Rams dominated the paint with their height by having 8 players on the roster over 6'3. It showed for the whole game. Amongst the players getting rebounds were the usual suspects in Seniors Andrew Maddock and Jon Collins. However, 6'3 Junior Jeremy Loftin had 5 rebounds, including 3 offensive boards. 6'3 Sophomore forward Nahom Assefa contributed with 4 boards and 2 offensive ones of his own. 

What did not show was the shooting. Ladue attempted over 20 shots from 10 feet or more, including 3's and failed to make a shot. All of Ladue's points took place within 5 feet of the basket with transition baskets and and 1's. The Rams struggled at the foul line hitting 14 out of 26 freebies.

Now onto the positives.

Jon Collins led the way with 13 points and was a perfect 5 for 5 from the field. Collins got significant minutes last year, but never had much of an impact in any game. This game was for sure his best he has ever played for Ladue and hopefully there will be more to come. He looks to be one of the most improved players from last year's roster and has already shown his toughness. Maddock finished with 12 points and seems more of a dominating force down low than last year mainly because he doesn't have to compete with a certain 6'9 center named Austin DaGue. He has worked hard over the summer and has added more moves to his arsenal. Sophmore Mark Rogers had 11 points and a buzzer beating lay up to give Ladue a comfortable 13 point lead at half time. Cornell Johnston was heavily involved with 8 points, 6 assists, 4 steals, and 3 rebounds.

As a team the Rams hit 3 of 18 3 pointers, which comes out as 16% and overall shot 44%. The Ram's are blessed with height, speed, athleticism, but especially shooting. Statistically they were subpar, but they were in a handful of games last year as well. However, when they had nights like this, they always bounced back and played better the next time out.

The Rams will have to pick it up for sure in the semi-finals as they take on the Vianney Golden Griffins, who returns a lot of their roster from last years state basketball team. That is actually a little deceiving because they graduated their two top scorers who poured in over 500 points each. However, they return several role players ready to step in as key players. The Golden Griffins defeated a burned out Eureka squad 74-54 led by Tanner Cochran's 28 points and six 3 pointers. He is a very solid player at 6'0 and is arguably the most improved player over the summer anywhere in the area. Last year he was a passing machine and now he has converted into what looks like to be a scoring machine. Vianney has a lot of size and go 9 deep. Plus of course they will have the home court advantage.

It was a slow and steady night for the Rams as they look to build on this experimental game, which saw a mixture of senior leadership and youth for a very experienced Ladue team, which will have to turn it up against a tough opponent in the Vianney Golden Griffins. Tanner Cochran did the majority of the scoring, but Cornell Johnston and Connor Spirtas will have something to say about that on Wednesday night.