January 24, 2012
The OK Red is widely regarded as the best league in the area for pretty much all sports from top to bottom. Basketball is no different for the boys and tonight we had a crucial game in deciding the Red crown for 2012. Rockford welcomed in East Kentwood and although the Falcons were 9-1 on the year that lone loss came to Hudsonville in league play which is why the 8-2 Rams had the conference lead heading into tonight. The Rams tightened up the defense that let them down early as they ran away with a big home win 43-32 and took an early advantage in the Red. The Rams have now handed second place Hudsonville and third place East Kentwood losses in the Red which will prove to be vital come the final push for the 2012 crown. Alex Porter was with me to cover this game and he was assigned East Kentwood as a focus while I hit on Rockford, so the following perspectives are taken accordingly.
Alex-
East Kentwood came flying out of the gates, looking to push an upbeat tempo, take the ball the the rack as much as possible, and crash the boards hard on offense. The Falcons looked to offset their slight size disadvantage with fierceness on D, harassing ball handlers and contesting jumpers as much as possible. Melvin Harris set the pace early, scoring 4 of the first 6 for the Falcons on a couple of nice put-backs down low in the paint. Miles Robinson led the way in the fist half with 8 points, hitting on two of three deep balls. East Kentwood seemed to have control of the game for the majority of the first, pushing their lead to 7 in the second quarter, yet they only went into the half up 22-19.
Justin-
Chad Carlson, the Rams leading scorer on the year struggled for much of the night and actually had his first two shot attempts swatted as the Falcons were collapsing on Carlson very quickly in an effort to take him out of the game. The strategy worked as the senior point guard had only two points at the half and finished with 6 for the game. It was up to the role players of Rockford to keep this game close in early action and it was the duo of Chase Fairchild and Scott Nikodemski who answered the bell. Fairchild’s hustle and shots like this three-ball from in front of the Falcon bench kept the Rams alive in the first half.
Justin-
The Rams solved the defensive woes of the first half after an intermission adjustment by first year coach Nick Allen. The Rams came out more aggressive and implemented a man press that turned to a trapping press when needed and it gave EK fits the entire second half. Many costly turnovers and seemingly endless stops were constantly produced by the Rams D that allowed just a single point in the final stanza and just 10 points after halftime! Rockford hit the freebies down the stretch as the lead swelled before the final horn and an 11 point OK Red win against a very good EK team.
Alex-
The second half started great for the Falcons, as Harris and Robinson (who finished with 13) continued to stay hot early on in the third quarter and EK saw it’s lead grow to 8 as they went up 19-27. The Rams, however, answered right back with a 7-0 run of their own, due mainly to the Falcons inability to break the full court press. EK turned the ball over 3 straight possessions to end the third, and they lost both the lead and momentum heading into the fourth. Ultimately, story of the night for the Falcons was their awful 4th quarter as they managed to muster up just one point, and were ice cold from the free throw line. They finished just 6 0f 21 from the charity stripe on the night, and their inability to knock them down in the fourth ended up burying them in the end.
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