Wendling steals a win for Rockford
By Jeff Chaney The Grand Rapids Press

ROCKFORD -- The Zeeland Chix came to Rockford Friday night to try and steal a win from the host Rams. But Nick Wendling would have nothing to do with that. The Rockford junior guard stepped in front of a Zeeland pass with less than 10 seconds to play to preserve a 61-58 win for the Rams.

Rockford improved to 3-1 with the win, while Zeeland fell to 1-3 with the loss. "(Coach Steve Majerle) said switch on the back screens, and when they back screened I just switched over," Wendling said. "Then when I saw everybody clear out, I knew the ball was coming." Zeeland coach Mickey Cochran said his team was running that play just the way he wanted it to be run. But a good play by Wendling ended it. "We were happy with the situation," Cochran said. "We had (junior forward Chris Nelis) open for a nice post-up shot there, so it was a big steal." Majerle was glad to see his team play solid defense at the end of the game, because he wasn't all that pleased with the Rams' play on the defensive end for most of the game.

"We finally shot the ball well tonight and had a halfway decent flow to our offense," Majerle said. "But tonight our defense didn't play like it is used to. We just have problems with big guys, and their big guys hurt us." Zeeland's big men, junior centers Matt Kingshott and Ben Hunderman, scored 17 and 10 points, respectively. The centers helped tie the score at 58-58 when Hunderman hit two free throws and Kingshott made a layup with just less than two minutes to play. Wendling assists winning basket But Rockford senior forward Ryan DeHaan scored a layup on a nice assist from Wendling with 40 seconds to play to give the Rams the lead back. That led up to the Wendling steal and a late DeHaan free throw for the Rockford win.

"This game was important for our psyche," Majerle said. "We needed to feel good going into the Christmas break. It has been a long time since we lost like we did against Hudsonville Tuesday (45-42) when we had a four-point lead with two minutes to play. Another loss tonight and that might have set us back mentally." Wendling led Rockford with 16 points.