Rockford Rams 37, Kalamazoo Central 41

K-Central responds to slow-down attempt
Sunday, February 25, 2007 Gazette Staff Reports

Bernard Varnsdeel Jr., the Kalamazoo Central boys' basketball coach, is getting used to teams trying to slow down his high-flying offense. Rockford was the latest to try the tactic and the Maroon Giants responded, holding the Rams to 12 second-half points en route to a 41-37 nonconference victory in Rockford on Saturday.

``Rockford tried to keep it in the half court, which they did an excellent job of,'' said Varnsdeel, whose team is No. 6 in the latest Associated Press poll.

``Lots of teams are trying to slow the tempo on us. We have spent a lot of time working on the half court game.'' Doug Anderson paced K-Central (15-3) with 13 points. Morris Brooks and Corey Person each added seven.

Mitch Briggs laid in a game-high 18 points for No. 10 Rockford (13-4). ``The game plan was to not allow them any second-chance points or transition buckets,'' Varnsdeel said.

``That's something we had to refocus on at halftime. I think it really shows our character to go on the road and beat a good team after a tough loss (to Mattawan on Tuesday).''