Rockford Rams 50, Forest Hills Central 46

ROCK SOLID Redell clutch for Rockford in win over FH Central
By Jane Bos / The Grand Rapids Press

The ending didn't surprise Michael Redell.

Rockford's calm and confident point guard squared off for a critical 3-point shot with time running out and his team trailing Forest Hills Central for the first time all night. He made it.

The Rangers still had a shot or two at victory in Tuesday's season-opener. But stingy defense, coupled with a Redell's final two free throws with less than five seconds remaining, sealed the 50-46 victory for the visiting Rams.

Rockford's win ended a two-year home winning streak for the Rangers at Forest Hills Central, dating back to Dec. 8, 2000, when the Rams defeated their hosts.

"The last two or three times down the court, I saw myself taking that shot," Redell said about his 3-pointer with about 26 seconds left in the game. "I knew I was going to get that shot. I knew I was going to make it. I saw it in my head. I visualized it. It happened in reality. It's a great feeling."

Certainly it feels better than March. In the district final, O-K White champ Forest Hills Central upset

O-K Red champion Rockford 55-40, handing the Rams their first loss of the season, and advanced to the quarterfinals.

Not that the Rangers were a bad team. A year ago, en route to its 18-2 regular-season record, Forest Hills Central dropped a 61-56 decision to Rockford in the season opener.

Hey, if not for the new uniforms (Rockford even sported a new all-orange look) it was tough to tell where last year let off and this year began.

Well, sort of. Neither team could muster much offense.

Chalk that up to first-game jitters, the emphasis by both coaches on defense and playing in such a big game so early.

"I thought it was down-right ugly," said Rockford coach Steve Majerle. "We found a way to win, but there was nothing pretty out there. Credit Forest Hills Central for that. Their defense took us out of everything we did."

Still, Rockford got the early lead, 14-5 after the first quarter and 27-22 at halftime.

"I thought we were in pretty good shape at halftime considering we couldn't make a shot in the first half," said Forest Hills Central coach Ken George, whose Rangers made 8 of 31 field-goal attempts in the first half.

"We had some good looks, they just weren't going in. I felt OK at that point."

Forest Hills Central tied the game once in the third quarter, 31-31 after back-to-back shots by all-everything guard James Telman, but still trailed 38-33 entering the fourth quarter.

Then with 1:48 to go, Telman nailed a 3-pointer to give his team its first lead of the game, 46-44.

All that remained were missed shots and free throws by the Rangers, and Redell's 24-foot 3-pointer and two free throws.

"No, it was nothing planned, Michael just happened to be open," Majerle said. "He stepped up and hit a big one."

All the Rams played evenly on offense. R.C. Douglas, Alex Briggs and Kevin Wurn scored 10 points apiece, while Drew Powell had nine points and Redell added eight.

Telman was lead man for the Rangers with 21 points.

Kyle Visser, the 6-foot-10 center heading to Wake Forest, was in foul trouble and managed nine points and eight rebounds.

"Hey, Redell made a big shot," George said. "I thought we had done a nice job on him all night. Then he makes the big one. If it doesn't go in, we celebrate like we're the best team in world. He makes it, and we're down. That's sports."

Next up: the Rams will host Holland on Tuesday, December 17th.