OCA: Zach Ruff a name to watch…
By Robert Przybylo
BPrzybylo@opubco.com
OCA's Elzie Clark pulls double duty every night as both boys and girls basketball coach.
It’s Tournament Week time. We all know what that means. You can catch your Varsity writers at a different tournament every day this week.
I kicked it off Monday night at the Grady County Tournament at USAO in Chickasha. My mission? To watch Oklahoma Christian Academy coach Elzie Clark as he juggled coaching both the boys and girls.
Gotta say it was an interesting experience to see the way he would coach the boys vs. the way he coaches the girls. Clark is in his 11th season as the boys coach and first as the girls.
OCA split Monday as the boys took out Alex 69-61, while the Amber-Pocasset girls were too much for the Eagles 51-21.
Going to these smaller tournaments give us a chance to see some kids we don’t normally get a chance to. On this night, it was a battle between OCA’s Zach Ruff and Alex’s Zach Mainka.
Two Zachs, two sophomores, totally different games. Ruff is a driver and slasher. He’s able to get to the rim when he wants to, and he did a great job of finishing when he got there.
Mainka is the big boy down on the block. He cleans up the glass and does a great job of pounding it off the backboard and finishing.
Ruff finished with 34 points, while Mainka had 28 before fouling out. Ultimately, Mainka fouling out allowed OCA to be a lot more aggressive, and it took advantage.
The Eagles were down 54-49 early in the fourth quarter before taking control. Ruff had some help as junior Mark Seiter added 16 points, including crucial free throws down the stretch.
First time I’ve been to USAO…not too bad. Look for a video with Clark on NewsOK on Tuesday.
Tuesday: Pott County Tournament at OBU (Wright)
Wednesday: Caddo Tournament at Anadarko (Harper)
Thursday: Buckle of the Wheatbelt at Kingfisher (Przybylo)
Friday and Saturday: Justin has Friday and Scott has Saturday, but we’ll have to play it by ear to see what intriguing stories are out there.
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