By Randy Gregory
Michigan Sports Radio
Holland West Ottawa came into Rockford on Friday, January 24 with a record of 7-5 and looked to further improve on what has been a surprisingly good season for a rebuilding Panther squad against the top two ranked Rams. But the Rams jumped out to a 10-0 lead out of the gate and ended up ahead 19-11 after the opening quarter. But that would only be a precursor of what was going to be a long night for the visitors. The Rams proceeded to outscore West Ottawa 24-4 in the second quarter and 17-6 in the third to take a 60-21 advantage into the final eight minutes.
The final eight minutes was a struggle for both teams offensively as they went deep into their bench and saw only eight points scored between the two squads before Rockford came away with the 62-27 win. A few players had solid nights for Rockford, but the unquestioned star of the evening was the defensive effort from Rockford. West Ottawa had come into the game averaging over 65 points per game but struggled all game long against a physical Rockford team. Rockford is now 5-0 in OK Red play and 14-1 on the season.
“We talked about defensive transition being a key coming into the game,” said Rockford Coach Kyle Clough. “We really worked hard on that the last two days. West Ottawa is really fast and electric in transition. They had been scoring between 17 or 18 points per game in transition and I think we did a great job taking that away from them. So I give our kids a lot of credit for executing the game plan. A lot of times people come into the gym and leave thinking that was easy, but our kids worked really hard on the things we needed them to and I thought we were really tough and committed defensively.”
Mikey DeKuiper really set the tone early for Rockford offensively as he continuously drove to the hole and hit several twisting layups that gave Rockford an early lead. The 10-0 start was built largely on his heroics and fearlessness against the Panther defense. DeKuiper finished the night with only nine points, but they all came in the first ten minutes for the Rams and laid the groundwork for what would become a decisive victory. The two bis stat stuffers offensively for the Rams were freshman guard Eli Wolfe with 18 points and junior forward Jake Bascom with 16. Wolfe had three triples and several other outstanding plays to highlight his evening. Bascom hit a triple and a thundering dunk along the baseline while showing his tremendous array of moves around the basket. All three of those players sat down midway through the third quarter or they could have put up even bigger statistics.
Senior Isaac Poot finished the night with six points but was a presence on both ends of the floor all night long for Rockford with multiple rebounds and steals.
“These kids believe in whatever we ask them to do and I thought Isaac (Poot) had his best game of the year tonight for us,” said Clough. “Coming off the bench for us is a transition for him and that is the great part of this team. They don’t really care about who gets the credit, They just want to go out there and play and do everything they can for the team to get the win.”
