Ruel scores 19 points as Oakridge cruises past Manistee

MANISTEE — Oakridge made easy work of Manistee in a 76-37 victory in a West Michigan Conference Lakes Division opener for both teams on Friday.

Eagle defense took control of Manistee, leading to a rout early in the second quarter.

“That’s what we want to do, is we want to play up-tempo, get out there and put some pressure on them,” said Oakridge coach Tracy Ruel. “I’ve got 11 great athletes, so we want to get out there and use our athletic ability, push it and get up and down the floor.

“I think we got off to a good start, played some solid defense and made some easy transition layups and kind of built off of that.”

Oakridge bolted out to a 12-0 lead, but Manistee was able to cut it to just six points, 19-13, in the second quarter.

But the Eagles went on an 8-0 run, led by a pair of 3-pointers from Ruel and led 40-18 at the half.

“Our goal is to get in their face and play hard,” added Ruel. “We don’t want to get beat, we don’t want to gamble, but we want to stay in front of them and create turnovers and get something easy out of it. I’ve six sophomores right now, so I’ve got a young team. They play hard. They play hard in practice. They put the time in during the summer, and they really work hard.”

Ruel led all scorers with 19 points. Evan Jozsa popped in 14 and Ty Maitland contributed 11.

Kott scored 10 points to top Manistee.

Oakridge (2-0, 1-0) hosts Hart in a non-conference showdown on Tuesday.