By Randy Gregory, Michigan Sports Radio
Photo courtesy of Randy Gregory
Rockford made the trip to the lakeshore on Friday, February 21 to take on the Panthers of Holland West Ottawa. This was more than your typical final regular season game for the Rams though as a victory would give them lone possession of the OK Red title in boys’ basketball rather than having to share it with Hudsonville. The Rams proved to be in less than a giving mood as they cruised to a 79-55 victory that highlighted many of the strengths of the team. Rockford poured in eleven three-pointers, had five players in double figures and played persistently tough defense to earn the crown. The win left the Rams with a 20-2 overall record and a 9-1 mark in the always difficult OK Red.
“I thought West Ottawa came out tough and physical tonight and were really energized by a great home crowd,” said Rockford Head Coach Kyle Clough. “But once we settled in the flow of the game, I thought we really just imposed our will over the course of the contest and ended up putting some pressure on the rim and then being able to play inside out. There are still things we have to get better at but to win a game like that and to win the conference outright is awesome. We didn’t really do a great job adjusting to the physicality early, but when we figured out the double team coming down there with Jake (Bascom) we took advantage of that with our perimeter shooting. Jake does a great job of getting the ball out of there and that has been our greatest strength all year. We feel we are well equipped to handle that when teams throw that defense at us.”
West Ottawa came out of the gate hitting a pair of long triples to take an early 6-5 lead. But the Rams proved to be highly efficient offensively all game long as they adjusted to the early double down in the post. A Josh Bascom reverse gave Rockford a 14-6 lead and they ended up with a 20-13 lead after the opening quarter. Rockford eventually pushed the lead to double digits as Dylan Gross buried a three-pointer and was fouled on the shot to make it a four-point trip. That made it 28-17 and the lead eventually grew to fourteen points before a few sloppy trips offensively left it as a 37-25 game at the half. Gross hit three tiples in the first half and Ty Blystone added a pair to help stretch the Panther defense away from the basket.
“Dylan (Gross) and Ty (Blystone) have both been really sick lately and they are finally getting back to being healthy,” said Clough. “That is a good sign for us and we have seen both of them shooting it much better in practice lately. We need both of those guys obviously and our best stretches this year have been when both of those guys have had an impact shooting the ball. That makes us really tough to guard and it leaves us feeling like we are in a good place and feeling confident about a lot of things we were able to do tonight. But we also know how much harder it is going to be next week.”
The third quarter saw the Rams break the game wide open as they outscored West Ottawa 29-15 to take a 66-40 lead into the final quarter. Josh Bascom, Lucas Pitsch and Gross were the catalysts behind the Ram offensive explosion. The freshman Bascom poured in ten points in the third quarter alone highlighted by a pair of tough and ones. Pitsch added nine points, including a pair of triples to highlight the stretch abilities of his 6’7″ frame and Gross kept the good vibes going as he added another pair of triples to his game-ending total of five.
The final stanza was uneventful for the most part as they lead teetered between 22 to 26 points and the eventual 79-55 final score. Five different Rams ended up in double figures led by Gross with 18. Pitsch ended up with 13 and the Bascom brothers both finished with 12 points to go along with 10 from Blystone. In addition, Isaac Poot had six and Eli Wolfe finished with five.
Rockford will begin state district play at Muskegon Reeths Puffer next week with a game on Wednesday, February, 26 at 5:30 P.M. against the winner of the contest between Muskegon Mona Shores and Cedar Springs that will be played on Monday. The other half of the bracket is Muskegon, Greenville and Muskegon Reeths Puffer. The winners of the two brackets will play on Friday night for the right to advance to Regional play the following week.
