By Randy Gregory, Michigan Sports Radio
Photo courtesy of Miles Posteam
East Lansing and Rockford met in the finale of the Gottagetit Classic at East Kentwood High School on Saturday, January 10. East Lansing is the defending state champion in Division 1 and is ranked number one in the state to go along with a 31-game winning streak. The Rams came in at a perfect 9-0 and were the consensus number two team in the state. In a Fire Marshall’s nightmare, people were crammed into every nook and cranny of the gymnasium with an accompanying slew of fans forced to stand for the duration of the contest. The hopes of a hotly contested contest seemed to be waning early in the final quarter as the Trojans lead grew as large as 13 points early in the final quarter.
But Rockford had other plans in how the game would ultimately play out as they mounted a spirited rally to bring the capacity crowd to their feet. It was still a 63-53 East Lansing lead midway through the final quarter when Rockford really put their foot to the floor. Back-to-back triples from sophomore Eli Wolfe and freshman Jace Opoku-Agyeman made it a 63-59 game and the crowd began to sense the game was still very much in doubt. Sophomore Josh Bascom scored on consecutive slashing drives to the hoop to first tie the game at 65-65 and then give Rockford their first lead since the second quarter at 67-65 with 32 seconds to play.
But East Lansing senior KJ Torbert (Bowling Green commit) tied it up with a floater in the lane with 17 seconds to play. Torbert played probably the game of his life as he poured in 39 points in an emotionally charged atmosphere before a packed house and multiple college coaches in attendance. Rockford had a final chance to claim the win in regulation but a late turnover resulted in East Lansing attempting a reverse layup just before the buzzer that went awry and this game was headed to OT.
The overtime was still a 75-71 EL lead with 35 seconds to play before a few desperation Rockford triples missed and the Trojans cashed in at the free throw line for the 80-71 win. A few uncharacteristic careless Ram turnovers and ice cold OT shooting proved to be the downfall for the Rams.
“We said at the beginning of the fourth quarter that we wanted to cut the lead to four points with four minutes to play and we did that,” said Rockford Coach Kyle Clough. “It took a lot out of us to get back into the game in those last few minutes of regulation and maybe that was part of how we played in the overtime. But when you get into those situations, you have got to make some plays too. And unfortunately, we didn’t. We also didn’t do a good job as a coaching staff on their last bucket to tie the game in regulation. We did not give them a different look defensively and we probably should have challenged the kids to see if we could get the stop. But sometimes you just have to give the other team some credit too. KJ (Torbert) was unbelievable all night and major props to him for making that play in crunch time.
The opening quarter was absolutely top shelf basketball as the teams exchanged the lead multiple times. The Rams relied on the three-headed monster of Wolfe, Opuku-Agyeman and senior Jake Bascom for the bulk of their scoring. Opuku-Agyeman had eight points in that quarter while Wolfe added seven and Bascom chipped in with four. The first quarter ended with Rockford holding a 21-20 lead. The middle two quarters saw EL take control of the game as they outscored the Rams 34-24 in those 16 minutes to take a 54-45 lead into the final eight minutes.
Wolfe was the primary catalyst for the massive Ram rally that nearly won the game for Rockford in regulation. Wolfe poured in 14 points in the third and fourth quarters combined (Nine in the final stanza) with his ability to score from all three levels. Jake Bascom was also imperative to the comeback as he used his variety of post moves to score 14 points in the final two quarters and OT as well. Opoku-Agyeman hit his third triple to piggy back off of the Wolfe triple that really fueled the Rockford comeback. He also hit back-to-back triples of his own in the opening quarter that restarted a Ram offense that had gone stagnant.
“I thought we did a great job offensively when we started establishing Jake inside and getting the ball to him,” said Clough. “In doing that we got a bunch of good looks for Eli, Jace and Dylan. But we just did not have a great night shooting from outside. Great looks again and again, but they just were not falling consistently for us. But we got a bunch of offensive rebounds and were relentless in giving ourselves a bunch of chances so it is tough to get too worked up about the shooting. I think we are a pretty good shooting team almost every game but tonight we just struggled. I feel Jake is the best post player in the state and when we play through him we are tough to defend. But again, that was just a great game between two great teams in a tremendous atmosphere. Mike Thomas from East Kentwood jsut does a fantastic job putting on this event and we were very proud to be a part of it.”
The schedule should by all rights get a touch easier for the Rams, but that is far from what is reality. They will square off with another pair of top ten teams this week as first the 8-1 East Kentwood Falcons come to Rockford on Tuesday, January 13th at 5:30 P.M. That will be followed b a trip to Hudsonville on Friday, January 16th at 5:30 P.M. The Falcons are ranked as high as fourth in the state while Hudsonville is ranked as high as number three.
Rams top Byron Center 72-52 to stay perfect at 9-0
Rockford had a short turn around after a two-game weekend trip to Traverse City as they returned to action against Byron Center at home on Tuesday, January 6. After struggling to a sloppy 32-26 lead at the half, the Rams righted the ship and pushed the lead to 28 at 63-35 midway through the final quarter before settling for the 72-52 non-conference win. The Rockford win moved their record to 9-0 as they prepared for the biggest game of the season on Saturday. Rockford and East Lansing are set to square off in the nightcap of the Gottagetit Classic at East Kentwood in a matchup of the top two teams in the state.
“It disappoints me a little bit in how we came out to play tonight,” said Rockford Coach Kyle Clough. “But I am going to wear that on my shoulders because I think for the first time this year, we were just not ready to compete at the level we needed to. We talked about some things playing wise and we did not do a very good job with it. So that falls on our coaching staff more than the players. But our kids really answered the bell in the second half. We had a pretty intense, physical conversation in the locker room and we came back out and just did a really good job both offensively and defensively.”
The Rams were led offensively in the second half by seniors Jake Bascom and Dylan Gross. Bascom powered his way to 18 of his 24 points in the second half in just a little over ten minutes of game action. After being held scoreless in the first three quarters, Gross put up a lightning fast seven points in the first three minutes of the final quarter. Fellow senior Chase Pitsch absolutely hounded the top player for the Bulldogs in the second half and never allowed them to get into a semblance of their regular offense to key the defensive effort for Rockford.
In addition to Jake Bascom’s 24 points, sophomore Josh Bascom was the only other Ram in double figures with 12. Sophomore Eli Wolfe finished with eight to go along with the seven from Gross and freshman Jace Opoku-Agyeman finished the night with six.
“We missed quite a few shots from in close tonight in the first half,” said Clough. “And I think that kind of affects the way you play defensively at times. If you score the player gets pumped up and so does the crowd but that wasn’t happening for us early. But again, it was a different mindset and level of execution for us in the second half. Jake (Bascom) really took over in the post and Dylan (Gross) got a few good looks and made them for us. He has been such a good shooter for us for so long and teams really concentrate on keeping him in check. That benefits us in other areas but it was nice to see him get some shots to drop because he can heat up in a hurry.”
