The past two seasons, El Dorado’s Joderrio Ramey has shown he could be a one-man band, capable of playing any and every instrument, sometimes simultaneously. Friday night, the talented senior might have produced his best track, not by being the band but by being the band leader.
“Especially playing hurt, (Friday night) I enjoyed watching Joderrio Ramey play more than anytime I’ve seen him play,” El Dorado coach Gary Simmons said Saturday.
“He didn’t play with a chip on his shoulder. He didn’t play out of control. Last night, he turned into a complete point guard and I couldn’t be more proud of him.”
El Dorado lost to league-leading Hot Springs 71-66 Friday at Wildcat Arena. The Wildcats played without three starters (B.J. Johnson, Brendan Simmons and Alex Boone). To make matters worse, Ramey injured his leg just two minutes into the game after a hard fall.
El Dorado would turn in an inspirational effort before the Trojans won at the free throw line in the final seconds.
Ramey finished with 23 points and a career-high 11 assists. Not a solo performance by a talented diva, the maestro played the role of conductor.
“I think last night was my best game because I led the team more,” said Ramey. “I would say when I had the 39 points and all those games, I was just scoring and I wasn’t really leading the team. I thought the team really came together and fought for each other last night.”
Ramey did more with less. The leg injury kept him from attacking the basket. So, he picked his spots while knocking down five of the Wildcats’ nine 3-pointers.
“I got hurt in the first quarter. It affected my game a lot,” he said. “I couldn’t attack like I wanted to so I had to play most of my game by just shooting the ball.
“It was frustrating at first until my shot started falling.”
Ramey set his teammates up for shots both on drive and drops into the post and kick outs to the perimeter. More important, however, was the leadership he provided to young players who weren’t used to being in a pressurized game.
“At Fair, B.J. got hurt and we brought Little Man in. His little brother didn’t D-up. My assistants told me (Ramey) said, ‘If you don’t play some defense, I’m going to tell Coach Simmons to take you out,’” Simmons said. “Last night, he wasn’t like that. He went from that to, ‘Hey man, I know you can play better defense.’ It wasn’t in their face and emotional like he usually is. That was good to see, too.”
“I know you’ve got to have a certain tone with guys,” Ramey said. “If they feel like you’re being too hard on them, they’ll get down on themselves. If you encourage them more, they’ll play better.
“I thought the young guys did real good.”
Under control, emotionally and athletically, Ramey and the Wildcats could see a rise up the charts from their current 5-9 record.
“Just lead the team and do as much as I can,” he said of his goals for the season. As for when the team is back to full strength, “I think it’ll be better. Now, we know the bench can actually help us. That’ll help us out even more.”