McCane’s big night from three
saves Rockford
by Justin Arbogast, West Michigan All-Star
Tuesday night’s OK Red battle
on the Lakeshore was diminished slightly by a rough patch for the
Big Reds of Muskegon. They played host to Rockford who has been attempting
to track down East Kentwood along with Muskegon all year. The recent
slide by Muskegon has the Conference down to a two horse race between
the Rams and Falcons. The league will be decided on Friday at Rockford
and for much of tonight’s affair that looked to be in doubt.
Muskegon used senior night and the energy in the gym to jump out
to an early lead on Rockford. The Rams did little to help themselves
in the first quarter, inability to find open looks and then failing
to convert upon them when they were found had Rockford down early
17-3. Muskegon’s Courtney Hill led the attack early for the
home squad putting in 14 early points including 5/6 free throws in
the first half.
A quiet first half by Ryan Majerle had Ram fans worried but they
were about to be surprised by fellow senior Connor McCabe. McCabe
was locked in even in warm ups and it translated to the game as he
was able to knock in 3 first half triples to help his guys scratch
back into the game. His 13 led the way for the Rams at half and paced
their 24-13 2nd quarter to cut the Big Red lead to 30-29 at intermission.
This drove Muskegon crazy all night!
Muskegon failed to pick up on the touch by McCabe as they went to
a press early in the 2nd half and allowed the senior guard to get
open for repeated deep bombs. Toss in an early and one by McCabe
and he was responsible for 5 three point possessions in the second
half and the Muskegon fans grew tired of watching three balls rain
in off of poor rotation defense. Rockford jumped out to a 6 point
lead after 3 quarters of play.
With Majerle largely kept under wraps (8 of his 10 points came from
the line) it was up to the roll players of Rockford to put this game
away. The Rams became stagnant offensively in the 4th and Courtney
Hill went on the attack. Hills sank three triples of his own in the
second half and finished with 28 points and four steals on D.
Muskegon was able to cut the lead to 3 with under a minute to play
but a late travel call on E’montae Briggs with 14.3 left pretty
much wrapped things up for the Rams. Majerle was able to hit 2 free
throws following the Briggs travel call and we actually had a 7 point
game until a buzzer beating 3 by Hill from the near wing sent us
to our final score of Rockford 59, Muskegon 55. McCabe finished with
31 points on 7/11 from beyond the arc. Rockford is set up with a
Conference deciding matchup with East Kentwood on Friday night after
the Falcons win tonight over Jenison.
