Vanderjagt lifts Rockford past Muskegon
By Jeff Chaney / The Grand Rapids Press

ROCKFORD -- Gabe Vanderjagt found his scoring touch.

The Rockford senior guard opened Thursday's O-K Red Conference game against visiting Muskegon by scoring nine of his team's first 12 points that helped the Rams build a comfortable lead.

But Muskegon picked up its defensive pressure, which slowed down Vanderjagt and the Rams' offense and allowed the Big Reds to get back in the game.

Muskegon had a one-point lead with seconds to play. That's when Vanderjagt hit his biggest shot of the night, a jumper in the lane with nine seconds to play that lifted Rockford (3-1) to a 43-42 victory on the opening night of league play.

"They turned up the pressure on defense, and we just started to make some bad passes in the middle of their pressure," said Vanderjagt, who scored a game-high 19 points. "The pressure got to me, too, and the two offensive fouls I had got me out of my game."

Nothing got to Rockford early, as the Rams held a 15-9 lead after one quarter, increased the advantage to 23-9 with three minutes to go in the first half, and went to the break with a 25-18 lead after a late second-quarter surge by the Big Reds.

Vanderjagt scored 11 points, the only player in double digits in the first half.

"We had them down at 23-9, but then we started making too many unforced errors," Rockford coach Steve Majerle said. "They have nasty pressure, they put great pressure on the ball and we started to become too individualistic instead of moving the ball around."

That theme continued into the third quarter, and Rockford's lead continued to shrink until Muskegon (3-1) made it a possession-for-possession game in the final minutes.

"We got back into the game off of our defense, but at the same time it's a 32-minute game of hard-nosed pressure and in the first quarter they had too many open looks," Muskegon coach Bernard Loudermill said. "We just came out a little flat, but we did put ourselves in a position to win late, and I'm happy with that."

Brogan Bibler scored 10 points for Rockford.

Andrew Pollard led Muskegon with 12 points.

Thursday's win was the first by Rockford against Muskegon in two years. The Big Reds won all three meetings last season, including a regional final game.

"Last year was a drought year for us against them," Majerle said. "This has become quite a rivalry between us."