Rockford Rams 60, West Ottawa 46

Rockford Defeats West Ottawa 60-46
Advance Newspapers, December 23, 2009 5:21 a.m.

ROCKFORD 60, WEST OTTAWA 46: The Rockford boys basketball team opened up O-K Red play with a pair of conference wins this week. On Friday, the Rams (2-0, 3-1) defeated West Ottawa 60-46 and Tuesday, they won 53-47 over East Kentwood.

"The bad thing is that we are not playing to our potential and the good thing is that we are not playing to our potential," said Rockford coach Steve Majerle. "In four games we have had three different leading scorers, so we have a lot of different options.

"Against East Kentwood, I was very happy with the win, but very disappointed with how we played. We played without enthusiasm or passion, but found a way to win," said the coach. "It was a 180 degree turnaround against West Ottawa."
Against the Panthers, the two teams were deadlocked after the first quarter 15-15, before the Rams outscored their visitors 12-6 before the half. In the third, Rockford poured it on taking a 46-31 lead into the final eight minutes. Ryan Majerle ran the show sinking 19 points, nabbing six rebounds and giving up four assists. Jacob Greene had 15 points and Matt Karamol nine.

In the win over EK, Rockford's leads in the first two quarters 14-10 and then 31-25 allowed it to walk away with the win. Both teams tied in the third and fourth periods with equal scores of 11-11 and 11-11. Greene wowed the crowd with 23 points and totaled five assists and nine rebounds. Karamol grabbed two steals.

Rockford will travel to Kalamazoo Central on December 29.