Jenison earns share of O-K Red crown
By Steve Ungrey / The Grand Rapids Press

ROCKFORD -- Jayson Dieterle and Mike Szymanski barely scored for Jenison's basketball team, combining for four points.
They may have been unsung heroes Friday night, but the points they scored played a big part in the Wildcats clinching a share of their first O-K Red Conference title in eight years. Dieterle's go-ahead bucket gave Jenison the lead for good with less than two minutes to play, and a pair of free throws by Szymanski kept Jenison safely in front on the way to a 59-53 victory Friday night at Rockford.

The victory snapped Rockford's five-game winning streak at home and dealt Rams coach Steve Majerle his first loss at home to the Wildcats. More importantly for Jenison, the win ensured the team it can do no worse than tie for the O-K Red for the first time since 1998. The Wildcats can win the league outright if they beat West Ottawa at home Friday.

" I was just looking to see what I could do for my team. I didn't know we were down by only one, so I was just shooting it. I didn't know the score at the time," said Dieterle, who came in averaging eight points per game. His bucket, with 1:57 remaining, put Jenison up 50-49. It was the last of 15 lead changes in the game. Szymanski, who averages four points per game, didn't care that his free throws were the only points he had.

" This is huge for us," Szymanski said. "Just to accomplish this in the hardest conference around is special."

Coach's first title at Jenison Jenison coach Brett Dyke savored his first title in four years of coaching at the school. The year the Wildcats went to the Class A quarterfinal round (2004), they finished second in the O-K Red. " We're ecstatic," Dyke said. "We've been working hard to get ourselves into this position and we came out and answered the call. We know Rockford plays well here, too, and it was a good win for us."

The scoring trio of Tyler Tanis (19 points), Wes Trammell (16 points) and Bryan Snyder (14 points) accounted for more than 80 percent of Jenison's points. Rockford entered the fourth quarter leading 44-40, but a 19-9 outburst by the Wildcats reversed the Rams' fortunes.

Mitch Briggs led Rockford with 15 points and five rebounds, while Ryan Sheafor added 11 points. The Rams outrebounded Jenison 28-21, but 3-for-10 shooting at the free-throw line proved to be Rockford's undoing.

"We believe we're a better team than the record indicates," Majerle said. "You can't put your thumb on one thing we didn't do. We made some poor decisions, we missed some free throws and we fouled the wrong guy. We're this far away from really being good, but the little things nip us in the bud."