Rockford Rams 51, Grand Haven Buccaneers 49

Rockford nips Grand Haven, wins O-K Red outright
Bruce Van Baren | The Grand Rapids Press

ROCKFORD -- The Rockford boys basketball team survived another close test, and the result is an outright O-K Red Conference championship.

The Rams held off Grand Haven's late comeback to clinch the title with a 51-49 win Thursday.

"It's awesome," said senior guard Brogan Bibler, who led the Rams with 18 points. "It's so hard to win this conference. It's an honor to play with this team and to play for these coaches."

The Rams continued their decade of excellence, winning their sixth O-K Red championship since 2000.

"It's always our goal to win the O-K Red," Rockford coach Steve Majerle said. "Right now, we're one game away from running the table, which would be really special."

Rockford (16-2, 13-0) won its first title since 2007 and will attempt to sweep the conference schedule Thursday against West Ottawa for the first time since 2002-03.

"They have a target on their back, and they do a good job of withstanding a lot of blows," Grand Haven coach Steve Hewitt said.

The Rams also are seeking a state championship. They won their first in 2002-03.

"We want to win state," Bibler said. "That's been our main goal from the beginning."

Rockford saw a nine-point lead cut to 50-49 with 1.7 seconds left, but held on for the victory.

"You can't get down nine to Rockford and have an easy time coming back," Hewitt said. "I will give credit to our kids for hanging in there and making that run."

Austin Harper led Grand Haven with 15 points. He engineered the comeback with seven points in the final two minutes, including a 3-pointer that trimmed the lead to one.

"Harper is just tremendous," Majerle said.

Bibler led Rockford on a night the Rams didn't have their typical 3-point prowess, shooting just 3-of-18 from behind the arc. Bibler hit two of Rockford's three 3-pointers and was 8-of-8 at the free-throw line.

"Brogan has not been our leading scorer, but every time we need a boost, he's always stepped up," Majerle said. "He does whatever we need him to do."

Bibler knocked down a 3-pointer and made three free throws to give Rockford a 23-17 lead in the second quarter. The Rams led 27-20 at halftime.

"I like making my first couple shots because it gets me going and keeps me fresh," Bibler said. "I was just on with free throws."

Bibler sank three more free throws to give Rockford its largest lead, 41-32, midway through the fourth quarter, and still led by nine with less than three minutes to play.

Rockford, winners of six in a row, host East Grand Rapids on Saturday before their regular-season finale against West Ottawa.

"We've been playing at such a high level," Majerle said. "I don't know how much better we could be playing."

Jon Prins joined Bibler in double figures with 10 points for Rockford.

Jake Carter added 10 points for Grand Haven.