Rockford Rams 53, FH Central Rangers 57

FH Central withstands Rockford's rally
By Jane Bos The Grand Rapids Press

JENISON -- Cam White stood amid the teeming green-and-white Forest Hills Central crowd, and tried to put the Class A regional final victory into perspective.

Problem is, the Rangers center had a tough time. Taking breaks for hugs and high-fives and trying to be heard atop the celebration, well, what's a junior to do?

White, who calmly sank to free throws in the final seconds to seal a 56-53 win against Rockford, did just fine.

"This is a dream come true right now," he said. "We just had some great team play. My team, they really pumped me up. Rockford called that timeout before the free throws to ice me, I think, and my team just really pumped me up."

But it wasn't just White on Friday. Many of the Rangers made critical plays down the stretch to send Forest Hills Central (18-7) into Tuesday's 7 p.m. quarterfinal at Lansing Eastern.

Forest Hills Central, making its third quarterfinal appearance in six seasons, takes on Ann Arbor Pioneer (20-4), a 46-40 winner against Holt.

"I just think my team is really gutsy," said FHC coach Ken George, whose team finished second in the O-K White to East Grand Rapids. "I thought Rockford played a great second half, they shot it tremendously well, and they guard really, really hard. Multiple times, we got into scary situations, and then we made a big play and then another big play."

He's not kidding.

After a dismal shooting performance in the first half that left it trailing 25-20 at halftime, O-K Red champion Rockford (18-6) played tough. The Rams made five consecutive 3-pointers to end the third quarter down 43-42.

They stayed hot in the fourth quarter, gaining their first lead since the first quarter, 51-50, with 4:25 left.

Then bang, bang. The Rangers' Tommy Maatman and Derek Dennis sank two consecutive 3-point shots to put the Rangers back on top 56-51.

The Rams narrowed the score to 56-53 after Jake Steinebach made two free throws, and then they had a final 3-point shot at tying the score with 12 seconds, but it fell short.

Dennis grabbed the rebound, fired the pass to White, who was fouled on a lay-up attempt with 3.3 seconds to go. He made them both to post the final margin of victory.

"I don't know if I have ever wanted anything as much as Cam's free throws to go in," George said. "After the first one went in, I just sat back and watched."

White lead the winners with 15 points, and Joe Hoerner and Dennis scored 11 points each. Maatman totaled eight points.

"We just could not stop them," Rockford coach Steve Majerle said. "They shot the daylights out of it. Give credit to them. They had good sets, their shooters knocked them down.

"It hurts because we know we were probably favored coming in, and we really wanted to win. This group of eight seniors, they are special. They are probably one of the nicest groups I've ever had. They are good kids."

Bryan Pasciak and Casey Doyle, two of those seniors, scored 12 points to lead the Rams, who made 1-of-5 3-pointers in the first half and 6-of-9 in the second half.

A third senior, Casey Doyle, added 11 points.

But it's the Forest Hills Central seniors who advance.

"We came out here, were pretty comfortable, we felt we had nothing to lose again," said Maatman, a senior. "It feels so good. It's one of those games where no one thought we would be here. I never thought it would feel this good to win."