Key steal preserves win for Rockford
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
By Jeff Chaney / The Grand Rapids Press

ROCKFORD -- The Rockford boys basketball team was able to overcome some sporadic play on the offensive end of the court with solid play on defense.

Senior center Mitch Briggs made a key steal with less than 10 seconds to play to help preserve a 39-36 win against visiting West Ottawa in the opening of O-K Red Conference play Tuesday night.

"We haven't clicked on offense, yet," said Briggs, who scored a game-high 13 points.

"We take pride in our defense, and that will help us get through the early part of the season."

One of the problems for the Rockford offense is that the Rams have reloaded with a whole new roster after losing eight seniors from a year ago.

Rockford's roster has just two seniors, six juniors, two sophomore and freshman Ryan Majerle, coach Steve Majerle's son, who was called up Tuesday from the junior varsity team to add to the team's depth at guard.

"We have all the parts, we just need a lot more experience," Steve Majerle said. "We need to find our identity on offense, but our defense will help us until we jell."

Offense didn't look like a problem early, as the host Rams built a 20-8 lead thanks to a patient offense that scored efficiently, including a 3-pointer by Ryan Majerle, one of three on the night in his varsity debut.

But Rockford began to miss shots in the second half, and West Ottawa chipped away at the Rams' lead.

The Panthers cut the lead to 22-14 at halftime, 30-26 after three quarters and then completed the comeback when they took the lead at 36-35 with 1:27 to play.

That's when the Rockford defense tightened up.

"The kids deserve the credit, they clawed back into the game," West Ottawa coach Jeff VanFossen said. "They had a tremendous half of defense in the second half that got them back into the game. They gave themselves a chance to win."

Rockford forced 19 West Ottawa turnovers and didn't allow the Panthers to score from behind the 3-point arch.

"Defense had always been a priority here," Steve Majerle said. "And it will always be so as long as I am here."

Besides Briggs' 13 points, Rockford got 10 from junior guard Brogan Bibler.

West Ottawa was paced by Logan Neil's 10 points. Neil was 6-of-6 from the free-throw line, and the Panthers as a team were 16-of-17.