Rockford Rams 36, Hudsonville Eagles 35

Rockford's clutch defense keeps the Rams atop the OK Red
Steve Kaminski | MLive.com

Rockford school officials stood with rope in hand trying to hold off the charge of students rushing the court after the Rams beat Hudsonville 36-35 Friday night, but they had little success.

Maybe they should have let Rockford senior Mitch Caywood stand guard because nothing was going to get by him.

Caywood had his hands full with Hudsonville senior Blake Hibbitts moments earlier. Caywood kept the pressure on Hibbitts, whose 3-shot attempt at the buzzer bounced off the rim, enabling the Rams to keep their grip on first place in the OK Red Conference.

“We just put in a new defense, and we had been practicing it all week,” Caywood said. “It came in pretty big. We were able to get a stop. We had to stay strong as a team, and it paid off.”

Both teams entered Friday’s game tied atop the Red with 7-1 records. It was the second time that the Rams have beaten the Eagles this season, with the first one being a low-scoring game as well. Rockford won 49-34 at Hudsonville earlier this season.

The Rams, 10-3 overall, went ahead 36-35 on Chase Fairchild’s free throw with 1:09 left in regulation. The Eagles then played for the last shot. Hudsonville called time out with 9.5 seconds left and tried to set up the game-winner.

Rockford’s defense was tough all game, and it was especially tough in the clutch.

“We were fortunate to get a stop,” Rams coach Nick Allen said. “They have some incredible shooters and they are an awfully talented team. We were fortunate to get a win against them.

“(Hibbitts) is a tremendous player, and Mitch is a tremendous leader. The guys on our team take a tremendous amount of pride in our defense. Mitch enjoys the challenge of guarding the other teams’ top players, and he did a heck of a job.”

Both teams struggled with foul trouble throughout the game, combining for 33 fouls. They struggled offensively as well, with the Rams shooting 25 percent for the game and Hudsonville 33 percent.

The Rams did open up an 18-11 halftime lead and led 22-11 early in the second half. But Hudsonville fought back, taking its only lead of the game when Alex Durkin sank a 3-pointer with 2:26 remaining in regulation to go up 33-32.

“We didn’t have the kind of start we wanted but we stayed within reach,” said Hudsonville coach Eric Elliott, whose team dropped to 9-4. “We trailed by seven at the half despite the type of offense we played in the first half, so we felt good about things. We slowly worked our way back into it.

“We got up with a couple of minutes to go, and at that point, it is a matter of who makes plays. They made one more than we did.”

Rockford guard Chad Carlson led all scorers with 11 points, while Caywood sank three 3-pointers and finished with nine points.

Hunter Prince and B.J. Van Loo finished with nine points apiece to spark Hudsonville.