Ladue Comes up Big to Defeat Whitfield

Down 44-35 in the middle of the 3rd quarter, things were not looking good at all. It was the biggest lead of the game for Whitfield who were getting inside buckets from 6'6 big man Dimitri Rucker and outside buckets from 6'6 Jacob Ekstrand. Meanwhile they were getting stops on defense and executing on fast breaks from role players. Everything was going the Warriors way.

Then it happened.

Going into the game Ladue looked to be the obvious favorites as they are the #2 seed at the MICDS Holiday Tournament, while Whitfield is the #10 seed, but they did knock off #7 Parkway South by double digits. They would carry that skill with them over into this game early and often.

The Warriors started off on an 8-2 run to open the game, but the Rams woke up and got the deficit to 3 points by a score of 12-9 by the end of the 1st quarter.

Ladue tied it with a 3 pointer from Cornell Johnston and got the score to 15-12 and were on an 8-0 run continuing from the 1st quarter. Then Whitfield called a timeout and soon leveled the score. Rucker was causing problems on offense and defense by hitting inside and mid-range shots, while getting blocks and rebounds.

Ladue was hit hard when Andrew Maddock picked up his 2nd foul and then was hit with a technical foul seconds later complaining to an official. The Warriors hit 1 of 2 shots and did not score on their free possession. With Maddock out for good for the rest of the half, Ladue had to bear down and rely on their shooters to primarily score. They did just that with Jordan Cosby hitting a 3 to stop the bleeding.

The Rams followed that up with great defense that forced turnovers in the back court. Cornell Johnston later hit an NBA range 3 pointer to give Ladue a 20-18 lead. But back came the Warriors with a 3 from Ekstrand. Things were going the Warriors way when 6'4 Jon Collins made a ferocious block on Rucker, but the ball landed right to Josh Nunn right at the 3 point line and he connected on his shot to go up by 4 points.

For most of the first half it was not Jeremy Loftin's night. Especially when he missed 2 bunnies on fast breaks. The game before he had missed a couple as well. However all was forgotten when he sinked a much needed 3 pointer to cut the score to 24-22. In fact, the night would get better for Loftin and the Rams.

With a 26-24 lead coming out of halftime, Whitfield immediately surged. They scored the first 8 points of the half with a combination of Dimitri Rucker layups and Jacob Ekstrand 3 pointers. Whitfield guard Bryce Berry even added a couple of fast break layups. The Warriors biggest lead was 44-35 midway through the 3rd quarter. Ladue to this point hadn't done all that well, but well enough to keep the game close within striking distance.

Then all of sudden it happened.

Ladue started pressing more aggressively to force steals and to up the tempo of the game. Three Rams stood at half court while Johnston guarded the Warriors point guard. The Rams were not ferocious or tight with their on ball defending, but were patient, careful, and stood firm. Whoever wasn't guarding the ball handler was keeping an eye on their man at all times.

It worked to perfection.

Ladue forced three straight turnovers in the back court and scored every time off of them. Loftin and Jerrid Cosby, both at 6'3, were a big part of getting deflections and interceptions. Johnston and Jordan Cosby were huge at swiping the ball away and also getting deflections. Whitfield guard Ioanni Katrantzis had an overall decent game, but couldn't shake off Johnston and Cosby. The other point guard for the Warriors was Josh Nunn, who is quick, but had a difficult time as well. The Rams forced Whitfield to throw cross court passes, which led to steals and eventual points. The Warriors even had a 10 second violation to mix in with all the turnovers.

Meanwhile the Rams had crawled right back into the game and had all of the momentum despite being down 44-42 at the start of the 4th quarter.

They picked it right back up where they left off. The Rams took the lead and Jerrid Cosby even hit his first 3 pointer of the season to make it a 49-44 game and extend Ladue's 15-0 run. Ladue was playing with a different style of play that was effective, and they continued it for the rest of the game.

Whitfield called a timeout in an attempt to stop the bleeding, but immediately turned it over on the inbounds pass. Later on the same possession, Maddock hit a wide open 3 pointer to extend the lead to 7 points and by now Ladue could see daylight.

The defense could finally see daylight before that because they started putting 2 men on Rucker to deny him the ball and kept a man on Ekstrand so he couldn't get set for 3 pointers. However, the downtown express finally started to hit a traffic jam as he was cooling off. With 3 minutes to play, Ekstrand fouled out trying to stop Loftin driving to the basket. Loftin by the way sank 5 of his 6 free throw attempts.

Ladue then went into no shot mode by having Johnston dribble in and out of double and triple teams, while wasting over a minute of time. That was all the Rams needed to do to seal the game.

Ladue closed out the game on a whopping 27-6 run. The final score was 62-50.

Johnston finished with a game high 20 points, a season high 11 assists, and 3 steals. He was also 10 for 10 from the free throw line.

Andrew Maddock ended up not fouling out after picking up his 4th foul in the 3rd quarter. He finished with 12 points, 8 rebounds, and 4 steals, which probably is a career high in a game for the 6'7" center. 

Jeremy Loftin had his best game of the season with 13 points, 4 rebounds, 3 steals, and was perfect from beyond the arc at 2 for 2. 

Jordan Cosby had 7 points and was 2 of 4 from behind the arc. He had 3 rebounds and, oddly, all of them were offensive boards. He collected just 1 steal, but caused many more. His younger brother Jerrid had 5 points and had a very important 4th quarter sequence when he hit a 3 pointer and sank 2 free throws to help Ladue pull away from Whitfield. 

Connor Spritas had a forgettable game offensively by missing all 6 of his shot attempts, but had a monster game defensively collecting 4 steals, getting a charge, and playing great on ball defense.

Jon Collins had a quiet game with 2 points, but played great on defense with 3 steals, 7 rebounds, and applied an SPF shot block as well.

As a team, the Rams shot 37% (16-43), 40% (8-20) from downtown, and 75% (22-29) from the charity stripe. They attempted 17 more free throws than Whitfield, which is a stat that will make any coach happy. Ladue collected 20 steals and turned the ball over only 4 times, something that will also make a coach happy.

Next up for the Rams are the St. Charles Pirates in the semi finals. Ladue was here exactly a year ago and fell short to the Duchesne Pioneers in a game which told the St. Louis area that the Pioneers are a tall hurdle and are now an even bigger one currently.

The Rams beat the Pirates 56-39 in the quarter finals last year and limited their star player, Casey Teson, to 13 points. This year St. Charles has reloaded and are better than ever with a 10-1 record and have been an impressive team thus far.

However, the Rams are completely capable of winning this one and know what it is like to be in this position. All of the seniors will be wanting this game badly. If the Rams win, it will be the furthest the school has ever gone in the long standing history of the MICDS Holiday Tournament.