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By Scott Puryear (Ozark Sports Zone)
While the Missouri State Bears’ lone exhibition basketball game was all about the new faces, the season opener quickly developed into a familiar story about a familiar face.
Welcome back, Austin Ruder.
The sharp-shooting redshirt junior guard from Nixa, who missed the final 27 games last season due to injury, came off the bench to drain five 3-pointers in the first half and finish with six treys and a team-high 18 points to lead Missouri State to a 96-62 victory over Alabama A&M in the opener for both teams Friday night at JQH Arena.
Ruder used his patented quick release to make 5 of 7 tries from behind the arc in the first half and finished 6-of-9 on trey tries for the game to lead six Bears in double-figures as Missouri State improved to 34-1 in Division I season openers, including 8-0 in those at The Q.
“It’s good to have Austin back … he’s a smart player who understands what’s going on,” MSU coach Paul Lusk said. “With some of the guys we have, they look for Austin … it’s not a heavy load on him, because we have some guys who can break a defense down and they have to make some decisions.
“I think it’s going in every time he shoots it.”
Jarrid Rhodes and Alize Johnson added 16 points each, Ronnie Rousseau III had 15 points and five assists, Obediah Church had 12 points and a game-high eight rebounds and Ryan Kreklow chipped in with 10 points for the Bears, who committed just six turnovers in the fast-paced MSU attack while forcing 12 by the Bulldogs.
Ruder played just five games last season, and after sinking a couple of threes in MSU’s exhibition win over Missouri Baptist, said Friday’s output was another step in the right direction of finding his groove again.
“I felt a little better tonight, kind of got the rust off,” Ruder said. “We got a lot of penetration (from our guards), so they were really pretty open, pretty easy shots.
“It feels really good (to be back). During the dog days of rehab, sometimes you don’t feel like you’re ever getting back, so to get out here and finally do something feels really good.”
Ruder hit four treys in a three-minute stretch of the first half as the Bears quickly turned a narrow 8-6 lead into a 20-8 advantage.
Missouri State would go on to lead 45-32 at halftime, and with big guys Church and Johnson combining to score eight straight points early in the second half – part of a 12-0 run – the Bears quickly broke it wide open. MSU pushed it to 21 points (55-34) on an acrobatic drive by Rousseau with 16:45 to play and was never really threatened from there.
When Ruder wasn’t bombing away with successful efforts, the 6-foot-6 junior juco transfer Rhodes was putting his shooting touch on display. Rhodes hit 6 of 7 shots, including 4 of 5 tries from 3-point range, and added seven rebounds to his 16 points in 19 minutes of work.
Johnson made all of his shots on the night as the Bears blistered the nets at 62 percent (40 of 65) for the game, including 23-of-34 shooting (68 percent) in the second half.
“I thought our guys shared the ball well and made good decisions all night,” Lusk said.
Quinterian McConico and De’Ederick Petty had 14 points each to lead Alabama A&M, a member of the SWAC coming off an 11-18 effort last season.
The Bears (1-0) are back at home on Sunday, taking on Jacksonville State in a 1:05 p.m. tipoff at JQH Arena. The Gamecocks were surprise road winners at Tulsa (84-73) on Friday, and feature a familiar face to area fans in former Parkview High standout Erik Durham, who had 10 points and five boards in 36 minutes off the bench for Jacksonville State on Friday.
