Rockford Rams 65, Northview 53

Rockford fends off rival Northview, remains perfect
By Jeff Chaney/ The Grand Rapids Press

With an undefeated regular season record now going on two years, Drew Powell and the Rockford boys basketball players know they can expect teams' best effort every time the step on the basketball court.

That goes double for a northside rival.

Northview came into Rockford on Tuesday and played well, but ultimately left with a 65-53 loss to the Rams. Rockford (9-0) has won 31 straight regular-season games dating back to the 2000-2001 season. The Rams are also ranked No. 6 in Class A.

"We know everybody is gunning for us, especially Northview," said Powell, who helped put the Wildcats away in the fourth quarter by hitting four straight free throws during the game's final two minutes. "Northview is so close to us, our districts are right next to each other."

The game began as if Rockford wouldn't need solid free-throw shooting down the stretch to win.

Behind the strong play of senior forward R.C. Douglas, the Rams opened a 19-10 first-quarter lead. Douglas scored eight of his 14 points, and grabbed three of his team-high seven rebounds, during the first eight minutes.

It was junior point guard Michael Redell's turn to get hot for Rockford in the second quarter. Redell scored 11 straight points as the Rams built a 32-14 cushion with four minutes left in the first half.

But the Wildcats weren't about to roll over, outscoring the Rams 13-4 to cut the Rockford lead to 36-27.

"We can't put teams away," Powell said. "Maybe we are letting up, but we're up 18 in the first half and we couldn't put them away."

Rockford coach Steve Majerle was just as disappointed as Powell.

"We had our chance to put them away there and we just didn't," Majerle said. "They get a couple of easy baskets and that got them going, and it was a dogfight after that."

The Wildcats opened the fourth quarter with an 8-2 run to make the score 52-49 with 5:34 left, but that was as close as Northview (4-3) could get.

Northview coach Mike Kapustka said the game was won at the start, and not at the end.

"They just got off to a quick start, and it was a long way back the rest of the game," said Kapustka. "We dug ourselves a hole, but we didn't give up and we made a nice run at them.

"They have a lot of weapons to defend," he added. "If one guy is off they have many others that can step up, and that's what happened."

Majerle agreed with that assessment.

"The key was us getting out early on them," Majerle said. "We are a pretty decent team with the lead because we can hit free throws.

"Because this is a rivalry, we knew there was going to be a lot of energy," he added. "But I think we took the wind out of their sails early, and that helped."

Powell led the Rams with 18 points and Redell had 17. James VanRees paced Northview with 14 points.