February 3, 2012
Our Game of the Night turned out to be maybe the Game of the Year in West Michigan. The Rams played host to the Hudsonville Eagles, as well as droves of fans from both teams to support Haiti relief in this Hoops for Haiti event. This was a wildly successful fundraising event but there was also conference supremacy on the line for both squads as we had a tie at the top of the league. Rockford got things going early with outside shooting and a load of help from the refs. Hunter Prince was out of the game about 2 minutes in after picking up his 2nd foul and BJ Van Loo joined him shortly after as the fouls mounted for the Eagles. A 9-3 foul advantage for the Rams in the first quarter alone gave them a quick 11-6 lead. Blake Hibbitts struggled all night from outside and could not get his shot to fall at all even though he had plenty of opportunities. This game would prove to be a flip flop of the last meeting between these two teams however as the Rams took an 18-11 lead into Halftime but Hudsonville would make a run in the second half.
Rockford put on an AMAZING show to kick this one off!!
The second half was a much different story for the home fans as the fouls balanced out and Hudsonville was allowed to play their game while the Rams fell into trouble with the whistle. A 10-2 foul advantage was granted to the Eagles with only 6:30 to play in the game and it allowed the road team to get back into this one. Hunter Prince was able to find the stat sheet often in the 2nd half as he grabbed 9 tallies to lead his team back into this one. Both team exchanged blows until the 2:53 mark when Cody Stuive drilled a 3 ball for Hudsonville to give them their first lead of any importance at 33-32. The Eagles fans were going nuts as they had battled back but Mark Pearson was having none of it as the following trip down the floor he nailed a matching 3 ball from right in front of his own bench to take back the lead 35-33. Hibbitts found a quick two at the other end before Chase Fairchild took to the line with just under a minute left in this one. He hit the first, and missed the second. Hudsonville gave the ball to Van Loo who ran clock until we hit 9.5 and an Eagle timeout. With the scoreboard reading Rockford 36 Hudsonville 35 this is what the fans left home with…
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