By Randy Gregory, Michigan Sports Radio
Photo courtesy: Miles Postema
The boys’ basketball team from Rockford knew they were facing a difficult week of challenges before they ever took the floor. They opened up with a contest on the road against a very talented Hudsonville team on Tuesday. February 11 and closed the week with a home contest against a dangerous Grandville squad that was capable of springing an upset. It was a split decision for the Rams as they fell to Hudsonville 75-69 before rebounding with a 74-64 triumph over Grandville. The results left the Rams at 19-2 overall and 8-1 in OK Red play. They are one game ahead of Hudsonville with only a single contest left in OK Red play. The Rams can claim sole possession of the title with the final contest of the season at Holland West Ottawa on Friday, February 21. Should they lose and Hudsonville emerge victorious over Grandville, it would be a shared title. It is the fourth league championship for Rockford in the last five years.
Rockford fell behind Hudsonville right out of the gate and found themselves staring at a 24-7 deficit at the end of the first eight minutes. They spent the rest of the game fighting their way back from that huge hole and eventually got it down to 56-53 on a pair of free throws from freshman Josh Bascom with just over four minutes to play. But despite Herculean effort from fellow freshman Eli Wolfe, the Rams would end up falling 75-69 despite a spirited comeback.
“Hudsonville is just too good of a team to fall into that big of a hole against,” said Rockford Head Coach Kyle Clough. “Absolutely give them all of the credit tonight. I just thought from the very start of the game they looked like a real desperate team fighting for their lives. We came out flat and that falls on me as much as anybody. We just didn’t come out the way we needed to with everything seemingly on the line. But, like i told them in the locker room, this could end up being the best thing that ever happened to us because it is going to make us awfully uncomfortable right now. And we still have everything in front of us that we want to accomplish right now. If we win the next two games, we win the conference title by ourselves and we still control our own destiny. The kids fought their butts off all night trying to come back from that start so that is a big positive. We just couldn’t get the big shot to fall to get us over that hump. And to their credit Hudsonville shot lights out all night long. We got to a certain point and it just seemed like Hudsonville had an answer every time.”
Rockford began their comeback in the second quarter and made it a 35-27 game at the half. But Hudsonville increased the lead to 54-43 after three quarters as they continued their torrid shooting pace. Rockford really upped the pressure in the final eight minutes behind the play of Wolfe. He poured in 13 points in the final quarter alone on a variety of moves including three-pointers and drives to the hole. But in the end, the Eagles hit just enough free throws to claim the victory and keep their hopes of clinching at least a share of the conference title alive. Wolfe led Rockford with 16 points and Jake Bascom came back from missing a pair of games to put up 15 for the Rams. Lucas Pitsch added 9 while Mikey DeKuiper, Josh Bascom and Dylan Gross added 8,7 and 7 respectively.
Grandville came out hitting just about everything against Rockford on Friday and jumped out to a quick 18-7 lead over the shell-shocked Rams. It was the fourth consecutive contest that the Rams have found themselves in an early hole and the fourth consecutive game where Clough was forced to call an early timeout. But on this occasion the Rams had an answer despite the Bulldogs continuing to fill up the basket. That answer was the sensational play of Wolfe. Wolfe hit eight triples on the night and seemingly had an answer at every turn when the Rams were threatened. An Isaac Poot free throw gave Rockford their first lead at 26-25 and a Jake Bascom triple at the halftime buzzer pushed the lead to 32-27 for the Rams at the break.
Wolfe exploded in the third quarter with four triples as Rockford tried to pull away. But Grandville continued to hit shots of their own and stay in contention as the third quarter ended with Rockford ahead by the score of 56-48. The lead hovered between six and ten points for the balance of the contest before Rockford held on for the 74-64 win.
“You again have to give Grandville a lot of credit,” said Clough. They made some really tough shots and that is the strength of their team. They have some guys who can really shoot it and you saw that tonight. But we also missed a few assignments that allowed them to get those shots. We were late in our gaps and stunting too late allowing for an open shooter. There are a lot of things we could have done better and we will work our hardest to correct those mistakes. But we are 19-2 and clinched at least a share of the title so there is also a lot to be thankful for and there are a lot of things we can be better at.”
“There have been flashes of brilliance for Eli this season and tonight was one of them,” said Clough. “He has been working very hard and trying to learn to defend at the level we need him to on a consistent basis to go along with his offensive game. Tonight was one of those games where he had the whole package going. He was so good it was hard to get him out of there and that is a credit to him for staying the course and showing what he is capable of on any given night.”
Jake Bascom added 15 points for the Rams and DeKuiper tossed in nine of his own. Josh Bascom tossed in six while Poot and Ty Blystone added five apiece.
