Rockford avoids upset bug; Cedar Springs stops Greenville
Greg Johnson | The Grand Rapids Press
LOWELL -- Rockford coach Steve Majerle was not happy to hear that
Wayland was the latest of the boys high school basketball state tournament
upset victims locally.
"Forest Hills Central went down the first night, now Wayland," he
said. "We don't want to be the next reason they call it March
Madness."
The Rams (19-2) showed little cause for concern in rolling past Northview
56-40 in the second of two Class A district semifinals at Lowell on
Wednesday night.
Cedar Springs (13-8) advanced in the other semifinal by holding off
a Greenville rally for a 64-57 win.
Rockford and Cedar Springs will meet Friday at 7 p.m. at Lowell to
decide the district champion.
"Our kids and the Cedar kids know each other and have played
against each other a lot over the years," Majerle said. "I
expect it will be a spirited, exciting game, and at this point I'm
always worried. I learned a long time ago, you just want to win any
way you can and advance, and that's just not very easy."
It looked easy for the Rams after they pushed a six-point lead after
the first quarter to 19 by halftime and 26 through three quarters.
Senior guard Gabe VanderJagt scored 20 points, sophomore Ryan Majerle
had 11 and senior center Jon Prins grabbed 11 rebounds to lead Rockford.
Northview (6-16), which started two freshmen, did not have a player
reach double figures in scoring. One of those freshmen, Kevin Rich,
scored nine points to top the Wildcats.
"They are a very good team," Northview coach Trevor Chalmers
said of Rockford. "Everything they need to do -- they did."
Cedar Springs coach Andy Secor joked that maybe Rockford's bus would
break down Friday night.
"Actually, I'm happy about getting to spend another
night at practice with these guys, and that they get a chance to
play in a district final and at least have that shot at hanging a
banner."
His Red Hawks used the 3-point bomb effectively to build a 36-19 lead
by halftime. Four players combined for 10 3-pointers in the game, including
eight in the first half.
"No doubt we're a perimeter team, and I was really excited with
the way we played in the first half," Secor said. "Greenville
got more physical in the second half, and we had some trouble. We
were fortunate we had the big lead."
Senior guard Luke Holtrop scored 18 points, and junior guard Jason
Gust 17 in bombs-away fashion to lead Cedar Springs.
Junior forward Drew McBride scored 20 points, and senior guard Torin
Gunther had 10 points for Greenville (9-13).
