By Randy Gregory, Michigan Sports Radio
Photo courtesy of Miles Postema
Rockford hosted Grand Haven on Friday, January 3 in a highly anticipated OK Red opener between a pair of 6-1 teams that are both highly ranked statewide. But when the dust had settled, the Buccaneers left wondering just exactly what hit them. The Rams poured in fifteen triples on the night and cruised to a 76-37 win that was never in doubt after the opening quarter. Included in that long distance barrage was eight three-pointers in the third quarter alone that featured a 32-10 Rockford scoring advantage.
“I mean, one of those nights where you just see everything go in and I thought that was a big piece of it,” said Rockford Coach Kyle Clough. “But I thought the way we played defensively and held a team that averages 67 points to only 37 and the defense really just kind of keyed our offense tonight. I thought the transition game got us going in the first half and then we talked about separating in the second half and not letting them get closer. And when the ball moves for us we have a lot of guys who can score and I think everyone saw that tonight. That is our greatest strength in our balanced and unselfish play and our guys stepped up and made plays on both ends all night long. Grand Haven can put a lot of pressure on you with the number of guys they have that can shoot the three. But we just never let that happen tonight and showed we also have some good shooters.”
Rockford jumped out to a 20-7 lead after the first quarter on the strength of the inside play of 6’6″ junior Jake Bascom and freshman Eli Wolfe’s burst of all seven of the points he scored on the evening. Wolfe instantly expanded a 10-3 lead to 18-5 after a pair of twisting layups and a 24-foot triple from the wing. For his part, Bascom tossed down a trio of dunks on the night and exhibited his prowess from the perimeter with a triple of his own.
The second quarter featured junior sharpshooter Dylan Gross. Gross was one of the top triple shooters in the state last year and had gotten off to a touch of a slow start this year in relation to his high standards. But he tossed in a pair of bombs in the second quarter and another three in the third quarter to exhibit exactly what he is capable of if you give him even a hint of room. The 32-point explosion in the third quarter built the Rams lead to 69-28 and sent many people scurrying for the exits.
Chase Pitsch saw plenty of playing time for Rockford in the second half and hit a pair of threes of his own on his way to eight second half points. Michael DeKuiper also got in the scoring parade for the Rams as he also poured in eight points in the third quarter. Gross had the biggest third quarter of all as he scored ten points. The Rams had seven different players hit a triple led by Gross with five.
“You have individuals who just go off scoring at different times,” said Clough. “But our bench was the key to the game early on. We came out and just couldn’t get much going offensively and Eli (Wolfe), Ty (Blystone) and Josh (Bascom) came into the game and gave us a huge spark. I think they scored 15 of our next 17 points and we just never looked back from that point on. We found another gear when we went to our bench and the rest of the kids just picked up on that as the game went along.”
Balanced scoring was the story of the game for Rockford as they were led by Gross with 18. The Bascom brothers both tossed in 11 points and DeKuiper was the final Ram in double figures with ten.
Blystone had nine, Chase Pitsch added eight and Wolfe finished with seven. The win moved Rockford to 7-1 on the season as they prepare for a pair of big games this week. Rockford will travel to Cornerstone on Tuesday, January 7 to take on another top ten team in Byron Center at 7:00 P.M. They will then return home on Friday, January 10 to host a solid East Kentwood team also at 7:00 P.M.
