Rockford Rams 58, Kalamazoo Central 73

Rockford boys fall short against defending Class A champion Kalamazoo Central
Lukas Cimbal | The Grand Rapids Press, December 18, 2010 11:57 p.m.

ROCKFORD -- A difficult non-conference schedule is something Rockford coach Steve Majerle relishes in order to help his players survive the rugged OK Red Conference.

Majerle and his Rams found out firsthand what it will take to make an extended run in March as they fell 73-58 on Saturday night to defending Class A state champion Kalamazoo Central.

“We played well, but not well enough,” Majerle said. “That’s why we play teams like this to measure where we’re at.”

Rockford, who has already faced East Grand Rapids and Muskegon Heights, and will travel to perennial state power Warren De La Salle and East Lansing during the Christmas Break, was rattled the majority of the game by Kalamazoo Central’s intense half-court pressure.

The Maroon Giants held Rockford standout Ryan Majerle to just eight points through three quarters as they hounded him all night on the perimeter.

“(Majerle) is a great player,” Kalamazoo Central coach Mike Thomas said.

“We heard what he did against Muskegon Heights (36 points) and we came up to watch him play against West Ottawa, so he was definitely at the top of our scouting report tonight. We had to make it tough for him and force him to drive the ball because he’s a great shooter.”

Rockford (2-3) trailed the entire way after scoring the first basket of the game.

Daquavion McCants-Wilson scored 11 of his team-high 19 points in the first quarter, including a buzzer-beating 3-pointer as Kalamazoo

Central (4-0) jumped out to a 20-14 lead.

The Rams kept it close in the second quarter, but a McCants-Wilson to TJ Buchanan alley-oop dunk right before halftime sent Kalamazoo Central into halftime with a 36-28 advantage.

“We’re really young and it was tough for us to get used to that speed,” Majerle said.

“We had some guys get tired out there tonight and that’s why things started to go the other way. There were probably four or five possessions (in the second quarter) where if things had bounced a little differently for us, we would have been right in the ballgame.”

Rockford was unable to stop the Kalamazoo Central offensive attack in the second half as the Maroon Giants used unselfish team play and were able to score a number of fast-break points to keep the Rams out of their 2-3 zone.

“If you share the ball, good things are gonna happen,” Thomas said.

“Our star player (Buchanan) didn’t even score that much for us tonight, so I was on Daquavion to start taking some open shots and he’s done a great job in the last two days of turning himself into a scorer.”

Majerle scored 12 of his game-high 20 points in the fourth quarter for Rockford. Junior guard Justin Klein added 19 points and five assists.

Darius Norman had 17 points for Kalamazoo Central.