East Kentwood boys edge Rockford, wins first OK Red title since
1989
Kelly Hill | The Grand Rapids Press
ROCKFORD -- East Kentwood coach Jeff Anama was in college and none
of the Falcons was born yet the last time East Kentwood had won the
OK Red boys basketball championship in 1989.
Until Friday night, that is.
East Kentwood edged Rockford 49-46 to claim the conference title.
The Falcons (15-4, 11-3) rallied from eight points down in the first
half to beat Rockford (13-7, 10-4) for the first time in the seniors’ careers.
While their defense brought the Falcons back from an early deficit,
senior Jeremiah Williams kept them ahead with a string of five consecutive
points at a critical juncture early in the fourth quarter.
“This is a great win for us,” Williams said. “I
hadn’t beaten Rockford ever. This was a very important game
and we were able to come in here and get the ‘W.’ ”
Trailing 16-8 in the second minute of the second quarter, Anama
called a timeout.
Afterward, the Falcons kept Rockford scoreless for seven minutes
and scored 12 consecutive points to take a 20-16 lead.
“To start the game, we were anxious,” Anama said. “We
were taking long shots, not very good shots, and we needed to settle
down and be more patient on offense. We started to do that and it
led to some offensive rebound opportunities.
“The tempo of the game also got to where we like it. We’re
not very big, so we need to use our athleticism to get up and down
the court against bigger teams, but this year the second quarter
has been the quarter for us.”
Rockford shot only 31 percent from the field in the first half.
“In the second quarter, we didn’t score forever,” Rockford
coach Steve Majerle said. “We had some good shots, but we missed
some shots that I would take all over again.”
Rockford senior Ryan Majerle led all scorers with 23 points, but
scored only three in the second quarter. The Rams scored only five
in the period.
“They took Ryan away in the second,” Steve Majerle said. “They
did a nice job of taking Ryan away.”
The Rams rallied to take a 29-28 lead with two minutes left in the
third quarter, but that lead lasted less than a minute as the Falcons
led 32-29 after three, and extended that lead to as many as nine
in the fourth.
Rockford had a chance at the end of the game, however, as East Kentwood
senior Christian Craft missed a pair of free throws with 6.3 seconds
remaining. The Rams rebounded the second miss, but an errant pass
spelled the end for Rockford, and East Kentwood won its first boys
basketball conference championship in a generation.
