Rockford Rams 65, Holland 50

Third quarter's a charm for Rockford
By Jeff Chaney / The Grand Rapids Press

Michael Redell used a little brotherly advice to help the Rockford boys basketball team set the tone in the second half on Tuesday night.

After a poor shooting first half, the junior point guard got hot in the second half and lifted Rockford to a 65-50 home win over O-K Red rival Holland.

Redell was 0 for 5 from the field in the first half, but scored 13 of his 17 points in the key third quarter that allowed the Rams to pull away from the Dutch in the final 16 minutes.

"My brother Jared came over to me at the half and told me not to miss anymore," Redell said. "I got a little angry with myself, in the first half. The team and I weren't hitting anything, but then (senior guard Drew Powell) and (senior guard Kevin Wurn) all started hitting our shots in the second half and that helped me."

That third quarter was the difference in the game.

Coming out of the half, Rockford held a 26-20 lead. But the Rams, who looked shaky on the offensive end in the first half, were more efficient in the third quarter, outscoring the Dutch 29-13 to take a 22-point lead into the fourth quarter.

Besides Redell's 13 points, Powell scored seven of his game-high 19 points, and Wurn scored five points, including a 3-pointer in the third.

"We are a team that has offensive spurts, and I was hoping we could hold it close until we got into one of those spurts," Rockford coach Steve Majerle said. "They went on an offensive spurt right off the bat, and I was a little disappointed with our defense in that stretch. But after that I thought we played smart team defense, and our offense was good."

The Dutch did control the tempo of the game at the start, racing out to an 8-2 lead four minutes into the game.

But it was only a matter of time before the much taller Rams took control of the game. In the end, Rockford out-rebounded Holland 31-21, an used a decisive edge in the first half to get momentum back before the half.

The Rams then kept it up in the second half.

"They got on a stretch where they got hot and felt good," Holland coach Mark Werley said. "Early in the game we rattled them, but they beat us on the perimeter.

"Redell and Powell showed you how explosive they can be," he added. "Wow, to get 29 points in a quarter, they were pretty good."

Majerle was glad to walk away with the first win in the conference against a team that, along with his team, have won the past five O-K Red titles. The Rams won the championship last year.

"You have to hold your home games," Majerle said. "It was important for us to hold our home court in this game."

Ronald Ferguson paced Holland in scoring with 16 points.

Next up: the Rams will host W. Ottawa on Friday, December 20th.