Rockford Rams vs the West Ottawa Panthers

Rockford Rams 55, West Ottawa Panthers 49

Rockford gets Majerle No. 300
By Jeff Chaney / The Grand Rapids Press

ROCKFORD -- Like many before him, Rockford boys basketball coach Steve Majerle had to sweat out career-win No. 300.

Several times Majerle's Rams had near double-digit leads against visiting West Ottawa on Friday night, only to see the Panthers race back and make it a one-possession game. Rockford finally pulled away for the 55-49 win thanks to making five-of-six free throws in the final 30 seconds.

Majerle is now 300-131 in his 19 years as coach at Rockford, Mt. Pleasant and Cheboygan. " I'm embarrassed to say that I have to sit through more games like this than I care to admit," said Majerle, whose team improves to 6-1 in the O-K Red Conference and 7-2 overall. "But these are 15- and 16-year-old kids, and sometimes they make mistakes. Obviously we had chances to put them away, but we made some bad decisions."

Rams took control of the game early, as junior center Mitch Briggs scored his team's first eight points to help Rockford take a 10-4 lead four minutes into the game. West Ottawa controlled the second half of the first quarter, and tied the game 15-15 with a 11-2 run of its own. Rockford began the second quarter like the first, opening up a 24-16 lead thanks to senior guard Bryan Pasciak, who scored six points in the run. But like the first quarter, the Panthers battled back, and trailed 31-28 at the half.

" This team doesn't have that killer instinct, yet, but we are hoping to get it," Majerle said. " This team wants it, but their decision making is not where I want it to be." The second half was played more of the same, with Rockford having spurts matched by the Panthers. West Ottawa was never able to get over the hump and take a lead of its own.

" I'm proud of the way the kids played," said West Ottawa coach Doug Ammeraal, whose team fell to 3-4 in the league and 5-6 overall. "We just need to know how to get over the hump." Briggs led all scorers with 20 points, while Pasciak scored 11 for Rockford. Grant Caserta led West Ottawa in scoring with 11 points.