Rockford Rams 55, West Ottawa 47

Rockford eventually pulls away from West Ottawa
By Alan Babbitt / The Grand Rapids Press

Rockford crawled a lot more than it wanted.

West Ottawa just couldn't keep the visiting Rams from running long enough.

Rockford charged to a 55-47 win Friday night that left the fifth-ranked team in Class A in command of the O-K Red Conference race during a key stretch midway through the third quarter.

The unbeaten Rams picked up the pace for a little bit and created the plays that decided this showdown for first place.

"We got it going up and down at our pace," Rockford coach Steve Majerle said. "They would rather have it at a crawl and try to punch it into C.J. Van Wieren and muscle us, which they did in the first half."

"In the spurt that we got the lead, we played more like we wanted to play. Then it went right back to a crawl and stayed there."

The Panthers, desperately trying to tie Rockford in the O-K Red standings, took a step in that direction to start the second half when they needed only nine seconds to produce a Van Wieren layup. West Ottawa seized its first lead of the game at 25-23.

Rockford, however, outscored the Panthers 13-0 over the next five minutes and grabbed a lead it would never relinquish.

The Rams forced seven turnovers in a string of eight possessions midway through the third quarter. They made the Panthers pay for their mistakes.

Point guard Michael Redell scored off two of the turnovers, knocking down a 3-pointer and burying a 15-foot jumper for a chuck of his 12 points. Teammate Drew Powell, who totaled a team-high 14 points, finished the big run with a 3-pointer after West Ottawa surrendered the ball.

"We talked about the whole game just playing solid defense and getting rebounds," Redell said after another successful trip to his old school. He played on West Ottawa's varsity as a freshman two years ago.

"They send everybody to the boards, so we can get fast-break opportunities," Redell said. "We got some outlets and got some shots on the fast break. Once people start knocking them down, it's contagious."

The infection put West Ottawa in a jam it couldn't escape, especially with its struggles shooting.

The Panthers went 18-of-48 from the floor for 37.5 percent and 8-of-19 from the free-throw line for 42.1 percent. Van Wieren, who totaled a game-high 19 points, hit only 7-of-15 foul shots.

"If you get in a hole to a team of this caliber, it can be tough to recover," Panthers coach Von Washington said. "We were able to recover in the first half. The second half was a little harder."

The Panthers rallied but failed to get any closer than six points. They had to settle for a loss that grants the defending O-K Red champions complete control of their destiny.

Rockford has won 26 consecutive conference games since losing at West Ottawa two seasons ago.