Creston muscles past Rockford
By Jane Bos / The Grand Rapids Press

GRAND RAPIDS -- Tony Smith refused to dwell on the negative, the early part of the season, when his highly touted Creston basketball team lost its first six games. Nope.

Not this senior forward with the easy smile and an easy touch. Let's talk instead about the last four games, all victories, including Tuesday's 67-55 non-league win over visiting Rockford.

" That is behind us; it was frustrating, it was pretty hard, but it is done," said Smith, who scored a career-high 29 points. "We are playing together right now. Everything is just flowing right. Oh, I am happy. It's time to get rolling."

Got to enjoy it when a plan comes together, no matter how late. But clearly, this is only good news for the Polar Bears. Everyone else, watch out. " Creston played awfully well," said Rockford coach Steve Majerle, whose team is the three-time defending O-K Red Conference champs.

" If they play like that, that's the best team we played all year. No offense to anyone else, but they were bigger, stronger, more physical. We had no way of stopping them." Rockford (6-3) tried. And the Rams did just fine at first, leading 32-31 at halftime and trailing 40-39 midway through the third quarter. Then comes the watch-out part.

The Polar Bears went on an 23-5 run to take a commanding 63-44 lead with 4:45 remaining. Game over. " Yeah, we are a different team," said Creston coach Bennette Gay. "We have a lot of guys back who were hurt, but getting our point guard back made such a huge difference."

Andre Harris, a junior who suffered a knee injury during football, returned to the lineup on Jan. 4, a 49-43 loss to Ottawa Hills. That marked the Bears' last loss. Tuesday, Harris (5-7) had 12 points. And Cameron Bradfield, the big 6-foot-5 man inside who is finally getting the ball inside, thanks to Harris' return, totaled 18 points. The 6-3 Smith, meanwhile, scored inside, outside (a pair of 3s) and made 9 of 10 free-throw attempts.

" He is a tough matchup," Majerle said. "If you play Smith little, he posts it up. If you put a big guy on him, he takes him outside. They are nice team. If they keep playing like this, they will be tough to beat."

Rockford, still in the tops of the O-K Red Metro race, was led by Nick Wendling with 17 points, including three 3-pointers, and by Ryan DeHaan with 13 points.

" We are starting to play better," Gay said. "But we are not satisfied. We still have to work."