Rockford Rams 65, Creston Polar Bears 43

Rockford responds to nonleague test

By Jeff Chaney / The Grand Rapids Press

ROCKFORD -- Coach Steve Majerle wasn't sure what to expect from his Rockford boys basketball team Monday night.

The Rams are in the middle of a tough O-K Red Conference stretch of three games, including a win over Hudsonville on Friday, and upcoming conference game against Jenison and Grand Haven.

So when Creston paid a visit to Rockford on Monday, Majerle didn't know how and if his team would get up for a non-conference game with the visiting Polar Bears.

That worry was laid to rest quickly.

The Rams jumped out to a nine-point lead after one quarter, pushed the advantage to 21 points at halftime and rolled to a 65-45 win over Creston.

"It's a Monday night, and I wasn't sure how we would come out after playing Friday," said Majerle, whose team improved to 7-3.

"I hate this year's scheduling -- let's play Tuesday and Friday nights, both the boys and the girls. The fans are burned out, the refs are burned out, nobody knows who is playing who with this schedule. I hate it, and I'm not alone."

The Rams are in a particularly tough part of their schedule. They play a conference game, come back two days later with a non-conference game, then have two games against Jenison and Grand Haven, two teams they are tied with for the conference lead.

"I was worried about our focus tonight," Majerle said. "It's a non-conference game on a Monday night without a big crowd. I was proud of the way the kids came to play. We came out and jumped on them early and made some shots."

Rockford was up 7-0 less than two minutes into the game and never looked back.

The Rams built their 21-point halftime lead at 37-16 by shooting 52 percent from the field and 57 percent from behind the 3-point line.

Pierson leads Rockford

Sophomore forward Robert Pierson had the hot hand for the Rams, scoring 11 first-half points on 3-of-4 shooting from 3-point range.

Pierson ended the night with 16 points, and along with junior guard Gabe Vanderjagt, who scored a game-high 19 points, led Rockford to victory.

Creston coach Andrace Morris was impressed.

"I thought Rockford really took it to us," said Morris, whose team fell to 4-5. "Their defense took us out of our sets, and when you have a young team like ours, you can't fall back on experience when you are facing adversity."

Creston's Derico Sanders was the only Polar Bear to score in double figures with 10 points.

The only bad news that Rockford had Monday night, was that senior center Mitch Briggs injured an ankle and did not play in the second half.

This happened on a night when Briggs surpassed his older brother Alex Briggs for the team career record of games played at 78.

"Mitch will be fine," Majerle said. "He's our security blanket out there, and it was nice to see us play well without him."