Big Reds hold on at Rockford in WMA’s Game of the Night.

As the season was set to tip most people felt that Rockford was set to be the team to beat in the OK Red, if not the entire west side of the state. Things have not gone the Rams way thanks to a young team and a daunting schedule to start the year. The Rams sat at 7-4 overall and 4-1 in the Red entering Tuesday’s battle with Muskegon 8-1 overall, 4-1 in the Red. The Big Reds suffered their only loss of the year in league play against East Kentwood by a pair of points earlier this year. The Rams needed a big league win Tuesday to gain some ground in the Red with a trip to East Kentwood scheduled for Friday.

Rockford started behind the eight ball tonight as they were forced to play without junior guard Justin Klein for unknown reasons; he was in street clothes on the Ram bench and sophomore Chad Carlson had to step into the starting five. Carlson played great, running the offense and navigating through the athletic Big Red defense. Two big threes by the sophomore in the first half kept the Rams close. Muskegon led at the half by two as they were able to knock in a pair of threes and capitalize on 11 first half turnovers by the Rams leading to 10 points for the Big Reds. Senior Todd Mitchell led the way with 11 first half points for Muskegon while Ryan Majerle matched Mitchell with 11 of his own while dishing out 4 assists when the defense collapsed upon him.

Rockford was only able to slice into the Big Red lead by one in the third and even that looked bleak as the quarter came to an end. Muskegon was able to knock down their outside shots hitting a trio of triples while jumping out to a decent lead for this back and forth game. As Rockford battled back a loose ball went off Muskegon with 3.8 left in the third, the Rams narrowly went down by 6 but now had the ball with a chance to pick up a late bucket. Carlson took the inbound pass and went right at the Big Red defense, crossed the half court line and pulled up as the buzzer sounded, the crowd erupted as the ball rattled home and the sophomore just flipped the game. Muskegon’s great 3^rd quarter play was erased and we had a one point game with eight minutes to play.

Fouls had now become an issue for the Big Reds as they had 5 to Rockford’s 1. They would play crucial down the stretch as Rockford would earn 9 free throws in the period. Majerle and Mitchell would toss their teams on their backs scoring 7 and 8 of their teams 10 points respectively in the 4^th. Both hit crucial free throws, but it was Mitchell knocking down both ends of a one and one with 15.8 seconds left to make it a 51-47 game.

Majerle was able to find senior Connor McCane on the wing for a critical three, his third of the contest to make it a one point game. A quick foul by junior Clifton Johnson on Muskegon center Najee Brown-Duren was just what the Rams needed to prolong the game. Brown-Duren missed the attempt and Majerle grabbed the board with no timeouts and little time left. All that was manageable was a ¾ court baseball toss that hit off the top of the backboard as Muskegon escaped with a gritty Ok Red road win. Mitchell finished with 26 points while senior Kenneth McDaniel had 7 points and 9 boards for the Big Reds. Majerle had 23 with 3 boards and 5 assists, Carlson and McCane each had 3 triples as their only points for the Rams.