By Randy Gregory, Michigan Sports Radio
Photo courtesy of Miles Postema
The boys’ basketball team at Rockford stretched their winning streak to seven with a pair of OK Red triumphs over Hudsonville and Grandville this week to move to 12-1 on the season and 4-0 in OK Red play. The results left them a game ahead of Hudsonville in the league standings with six games to play. The final of the Hudsonville contest was Rockford 56 Hudsonville 54 as freshman Eli Wolfe hit a pull up jumper from the left side just before the final buzzer to give the Rams the win at home on Tuesday. January 14. The Grandville game saw the host Bulldogs trailing only 29-27 at the half before a raucous home crowd on Friday, January 17. But stifling Ram defense in the second half keyed a 31-15 edge in the final sixteen minutes to earn the 60-42 win.
“Adversity is good for us because it is hard to swallow your pride at times but it speaks volumes for our team that we found a way to win two great games,” said Rockford Coach Kyle Clough. “I thought Hudsonville outplayed us for a good portion of the game and you have to give Grandville credit for switching from a zone that they have been playing for most of the season and coming out in a tough man to man and hitting some big shots early that really kept them in range. But we really turned up the defensive intensity in the third quarter and gradually took control of the game. Lucas Pitsch had a great game at both ends for us against Grandville. He has a very high basketball IQ and really went after the ball on both ends on the boards.”
Jake Bascom was the offensive catalyst for the Rams in the opening and closing quarters. He poured in eight points in the first quarter and nine in the final stanza on his way to 21 points for the night. But the biggest difference in the game was the Ram defense in the second half. They held the Bulldogs to only two points in the third quarter and fifteen total in the second half. Most of those points came well after the game had been decided. Nobody else reached double figures for Rockford but balance was the name of the game for the deep Ram roster. Dylan Gross and Pitsch both had nine points, freshman Josh Bascom added eight and Michael DeKuiper added seven.
In the Tuesday meeting with Hudsonville the Rams appeared poised to take firm control of the game as they jumped out to a 28-17 lead after Wolfe hit a three late in the second quarter. But the Eagles showed why they are also ranked in the top ten in the state in Division 1 as they narrowed to lead to 30-22 at the half. Hudsonville then really caried the play as they took a 44-37 lead early in the final quarter before Rockford was finally able to stem the tide of that 27-9 Eagle run.
In a game where leading scorers Jake Bascom and Gross were held to six points total, the veteran and rookie guards for Rockford were critical. DeKuiper (senior) and Wolfe continued to make critical play after critical play to keep Rockford in the game. Bascom and Gross combined for their only points in a critical late stretch that gave Rockford a late 54-51 lead before a traditional three-point play from the Eagles knotted things up at 54-54 and set the stage for Wolfe’s heroics.
DeKuiper led Rockford with 16 points and was joined in double figures by Wolfe with 15. Pitsch added nine key points of his own on a night where both teams struggled to dent the scoring column in a hotly contested game.
“We are not going to win very many games where (Jake) Bascom and (Dylan) score only six points,” said Clough. “But I think the win really emphasized the importance of our depth and ability to look for other sources of offense to come out om top. Hudsonville has a really good team and came out with a great game plan that really frustrated us for long stretches. But in the end that was a great win in a stressful situation against a great opponent.”
