Rockford boys look strong in road win against Hudsonville
Dean Holzwarth | The Grand Rapids Press
HUDSONVILLE -- One knock on the Rockford
boys basketball team was whether they were mentally tough enough
to defend their OK Red Conference championship from a year ago.
The
Rams took a major step toward proving that after rallying for a critical
59-53 road win over Hudsonville on Friday night.
Rockford wiped out a nine-point deficit and outscored the Eagles
27-12 in the fourth quarter.
"The stigma with this team is we haven't been very tough mentally,
but I think we turned the corner tonight down nine points going into
the fourth quarter," Rams coach Steve Majerle said. "We
didn't play a great game, and it wasn't pretty, but we found a way
to win and we've been doing that the last three or four games.
"I'm not sure how they did it, but they got it done, and I
told them I was very proud of them. They wore the Rockford on their
chest well."
The Rams did it defensively by allowing only two fourth-quarter
field goals, and consistently knocking down free throws.
Rockford converted 28-of-39 free throws, including 20-of-28 in the
final quarter.
"We had to keep fighting and keep fighting and we knew it would
pay off in the end," said Rockford junior Ryan Majerle, who
scored a game-high 19 points and made 9-of-10 free throws.
"We had to get big stops and make some baskets on offense.
We got a little frantic for a while, but we calmed down and capitalized
down the stretch."
Hudsonville was poised for the upset after outscoring the Rams 19-8
in the third quarter and shooting 53 percent (8-of-15) to grab a
41-32 lead.
But the Eagles limped through a dreadful fourth quarter by committing
six turnovers and putting the Rams at the line.
A major swing occurred midway through the fourth when the Rams scored
six points in under 25 seconds.
A steal and lay-up from Rockford's Matt Karamol, coupled with a
technical foul and four free throws, put the Rams on top 49-45 with
under three minutes left.
"It was a frustrating fourth quarter," Hudsonville coach
Eric Elliott said. "They went small on us and we didn't do a
good job of controlling tempo. We let them dictate tempo and they
did what they had to do to win."
Rockford's victory puts them a game back in the OK Red, and sets
up a showdown next Friday against first-place Grand Haven.
"We've been pointing to that game since we lost to them over
at their place in a bad overtime," Steve Majerle said. "We
said we wanted to run the table until we meet them again and we have.
It's going to be a big game."
Senior guard Anthony Allen led the Eagles with 15 points, while
Austin Elling added 12 points before dislocating his shoulder at
the end of the third quarter.
Senior Ryan Darby tallied 15 points for the Rams, and Karamol had
10 points and five rebounds.
