At first, it looked like a mismatch.  Rockford’s stifling defense held Grand Haven to only nine points in the first half, as the Rams made the Bucs look lost on the offensive end of the floor.

But that type of defensive intensity is hard to maintain.  The Bucs rallied from 17-down in the second half to pull within three points of the Rams with under a minute to play, before Rockford shut the door from the free-throw line.  Rockford held on to win a low-scoring, sloppy affair, 41-35.

After going 4-4 over the early part of the season against a brutal schedule, Rockford needed a victory on Friday night.  And it was apparent early that it wasn’t going to come on the offensive end of the floor.

Grand Haven's Alex Eidson | Murray Sports Photography

The Rams don’t have the kind of inside presence that they have had over the past couple years, and their shooting from long-range isn’t what it has been.  But the one constant for the Rams, the one thing you can count on from any Steve Majerle coached team, is that overpowering defense.  And on Friday, that defense turned Grand Haven over 17 times.

Of course, throwing in a duo of guards who can compete with any in the state in senior Ryan Majerle and junior Justin Klein doesn’t hurt.  Majerle led the charge for the Rams with 21-points including 9/10 from the line, while Klein added 7 of his own.

For Grand Haven, seniors Jordan Hoogerhyde and Marshall Rusco along with junior Alex Eidson each scored 11 points to lead a balanced, if a bit out of sync, attack.  Like Rockford, the Bucs find success on the defensive side of the ball.

Looking back at the game, even though Rockford was up big at one point, it’s tough to give them a clear nod over Grand Haven.  It’s apparent that both teams have talent, and even more than that both teams have fire.  That can get you a long way, particularly as a team begins to gel as the season progresses.

Rockford needed the win to get over some early season struggles, and they earned it.  But don’t sleep on Grand Haven just yet.  The season is just getting started.

Action shots of Friday’s game come courtesy of the man himself, Lou Murray of Murray Sports Photography.  For the full galleries click here.  Players, feel free to swipe the pics for your Facebook profile pics.  That’s why they’re there.

Quick Hitters:

• This was neither team’s best game, which may actually bode well for the Rams moving forward.  They gutted their way through a quality Grand Haven team, and held off a serious late-game push, all while the shots weren’t falling.  Looking to a potential playoff run, shots will either fall or they won’t.  But you still have to win either way.
• As a player with a decent amount of pride, it’s tough to reconcile a 9-point first half in your mind.  Given that, Grand Haven’s push to within three points in the second half was inspiring.

Janelle Bauchan paced the Rangers with 12 points, while teammates Christina Bowman and Jillian Hendrickson each scored 10.  For the Rams, Kimberly Weston lead the way with 13 points.

So far so good for the Rangers.  With a significant opening victory over Rockford, Forest Hills Central opens their season on a very positive note.

Read the full story with The Grand Rapids Press: “Rockford linebacker Brett Egnatuk…”

Hudsonville's Blake Hibbits | DavidChandlerPhoto.com

Superbly talented pitching really stands out in high school baseball. High school baseball tends to be dictated by powerful offense, so when a dominant pitcher steps on the mound, the impact is immediately noticeable in both the game and the teams record. Exhibit A: a six-hit (three in the 7th), 5-strikeout, 84-pitch complete game shutout by Blake Hibbitts, backed-up by superb run manufacturing to lead Hudsonville junior varsity to a 5-0 win over a tough Rockford team.

Hudsonville struck early, scoring two runs in the first inning. Manufacturing runs was the name of the game as Blake Pols scored on a delayed steal followed by a line drive RBI.  Even those two runs would have been enough for the long delivery of Hibbitts. His smooth delivery on every pitch kept the Rockford team guessing; impossible to discern between a fastball or snail paced change-up until the last second. Hibbitts even took his pitching duel with Rockford’s Max Crimp beyond the mound, when he belted a line-drive RBI into right field to extend the lead 3-0.

As the game wore on, Hudsonville kept the pedal to the medal, continuing to swing and run the bases aggressively.  Erik Deiterle stole second base in the top of the fifth, and was driven in by Blake Pols for another manufactured run for the Eagles. In the bottom of the fifth Hibbitts shined with some serious “assist”ance from the shortstop Blake Pols. Hibbits faced three batters, and all three infield hits were thrown out at first by Pols, in what ended a five-pitch inning. Hudsonville flexed their muscles. The manufactured run theme showed up again in the top of the sixth, when Zach Bohl hit a basehit for the Eagles, and advanced to second when Hibbits was hit by a pitch thrown by Rockford’s Crimp. Bohl took advantage of the opportunity to steal third, and a subsequent passed ball allowed him to tally one more hard-earned run for Hudsonville.

In the bottom of the seventh Rockford finally found a way to hit against Hudsonville. Three base hits doubled the hit count against Hibbitts and loaded the bases.  But one timely, and final, pop-out gave Hudsonville a great win over an in-conference rival.

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Bucs #1 | DavidChandlerPhoto.com

High quality, professional action prints from the game are available from David Chandler Photography.

This game story was to start out much differently before Grand Haven’s Nate VanArendonk shattered the backboard on the “Dunk heard round the state,” the “VanArenDunk,” or simply “the Dunk.”  Late in the third quarter, VanArendonk drop-stepped and powered down a two-handed dunk over a Rockford defender that cost the Grandville athletic department approximately $1,500.  The dunk put the Bucs up 20-15, and electrified the entire gymnasium in a way that is rarely even seen in the NCAA and the NBA.

30-seconds later, the entire crowd was on their cellphones.

It was a powerful statement, and even after changing venues to a Jenison gymnasium equipped with the standard two backboards, Rockford would not recover.  The Bucs took home the regional championship, 39-36.

Nate VanArendonk throws it down | DavidChandlerPhoto.com

Grand Haven set the tone early, feeding VanArendonk and Noah Veach down low repeatedly to slow down the pace of the game.  VanArendonk lead the game with 15-points.  Rockford’s Ryan Majerle and Justin Klein pressured the Bucs’ guards the entire length of the floor, keeping them off their game just enough that they were missing shots.  That pressure didn’t help against the Bucs aggressive offensive rebounding, however, which lead to easy buckets off those misses.  On the other end, Rockford was waist-deep in a shooting slump for basically the entire game.

The Dunk happened.  The players, referees, media, students and fans drove five miles Northwest to Jenison to finish the game.

When the game re-started with 2:37 to go in the third, the pace was markedly quicker but the shooting accuracy stayed about the same. Rockford gunned three pointer after three pointer, but couldn’t sink one until Connor McCane drilled one to pull the Rams within 32-28.  McCane lead the Rams with 13-points on the night.

But Grand Haven methodically stayed with their gameplan.  They fed VanArendonk down low, and the big man answered with a bucket to extend the lead to 34-28.

Connor McCane drills a three | DavidChandlerPhoto.com

In the game’s final seconds, Grand Haven left the door open by missing multiple 1-and-1 free throw attempts. Rockford had their chances, but missed on four consecutive three-pointers shots on 3 offensive rebounds.

The writing was on the wall.

Grand Haven turned over the subsequent inbounds pass leading to a Rockford three-pointer with 23-seconds to go. Only down four, all those three-pointers might have come in handy, but as hard as Rockford fought, the shots simply wouldn’t fall.

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Check out the guys in the stands "Duuuuuuude!!" | DavidChandlerPhoto.com

UPDATE: We have pictures (from David Chandler Photography), and video (from WZZM13.com and from FOX17.com), people!

This is just sick.  From the Venerable One:

Grand Haven’s Nate VanArendonk shuffled toward the basket, grabbed the basketball with two hands and went up strong and slammed it through the hoop, bending the rim on the way down.

And the backboard shattered.

While the crowd gathered for the Class A regional final with Rockford was silent for a moment, as the shock of seeing glass strewn about the court sunk in, the 6-foot-9 VanArendonk screamed, chest bumped two of his teammates and raised his arms to the crowd.

Slowly, the fans filtered onto the court, snapping pictures with cell phones of what was left of the backboard. The remaining glass was a spider web of shatters, and right under a huge hole, the rim, which still was supported by safety supports, hung.

VanArenDUNK. Sick. | DavidChandlerPhoto.com

Having begun at Grandville high school, after what will henceforth be known as “the VanArendunk” the game was relocated to Jenison high school to finish up.  Grand Haven went on to win the game, 39-36.

And in an oddly prophetic move, the Grand Haven Tribune published an article earlier today entitled, “VanAren-dunks spark Buccaneers.”  Yup.  They’re psychics over on the lakeshore.  Attaboy, Matt DeYoung.

Here’s a relevant excerpt:

While the exact number of dunks escapes him, there’s one that stands out above the crowd — a poster-worthy two-hander right in the face of Hudsonville’s 6-1 senior Nick VanLoo.

“That was my favorite one,” VanArendonk said. “That’s the most man-like I’ve ever gone to the rim.”

Not anymore.

Stay tuned tomorrow for FULL coverage, including professional photography from WMA’s boy, David Chandler.

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Each week, West Michigan Allstar takes our blogging circus over hill and dale to a high school gymnasium around West Michigan.  It’s traditionally one of the biggest games in the area, with the top players and teams duking it out against one another (we like to watch that stuff, too), and this week is no exception.  Of course, we do this to save the liberated fans of the world the trouble of deciding which game to go to that week.

Tonight, is for the regional championship, and a whole lotta bragging rights.

GRAND HAVEN BUCS (20-4, 12-2) AT ROCKFORD RAMS (17-6, 12-2)

Last year, in the regional championship, Rockford came back to beat Grand Haven in overtime with one of the most unlikely deep triples I’ve seen.  364-days later, the two teams meet again with their seasons riding in the balance.  Throughout the entire year, the two teams have been battling among Class-A’s elite teams, including each other.  Twice.  With one win each, this regional championship is a rubber match.  It simply doesn’t get any bigger than this.

Grand Haven in a nutshell

They say that defense wins championships, an axiom that the Buccaneers hope holds true.  They boast the hands-down best overall defense in West Michigan.  To illustrate, in their four playoff games Grand Haven has held their opponents to 22-points, 54-points, 35-points and 40-points, respectively.   Three of the four totals speak for themselves of the Buccaneers’ suffocating defense, and had they played in the second half they would have lowered Reeths-Puffer’s scoring total considerably.  Grand Haven was given a moderate scare by Traverse City Central in the regional semis, but apart from that have looked untouchable in the tournament.  The Bucs look as good as ever right now.

Grand Haven is anchored by senior CMU-commit Nate VanArendonk, who is the sun around which the rest of the Buccaneers orbit.  Among the larger of those satellites are bruising forward Noah Veach and long-range gunslinger Isiah Law, who are both capable of changing the course of a game in their own right.

Grand Haven’s weakness is in their backcourt, although according to their turnover numbers that may not be a weakness after all.  Rockford will throw a ton of pressure on the Buccaneer guards and hope they cough up the ball.  Grand Haven’s success depends on that not happening.

Rockford in a nutshell

Not quite reminiscent of the Suns of the SSOL era, Rockford nevertheless thrives on a fast-paced, track-meet style ballgame.  They have ball handlers at every position, and play with an aggressiveness on both ends of the court that has often put opponents off their game.  Ask Greenville, and later Holland — they’ll tell you.  The Rams did have difficulty ousting Grand Rapids Northview, which surprised many but ultimately was demonstrative of Rockford’s style. An aggressive, pedal to the floor mentality that can tend to either feast or famine, depending 0n whether the outside shot is falling.  If it is, Rockford can hang with anyone in the state.

The Rams are lead by junior do-it-all wingman Ryan Majerle, who is one of the most versatile (and deadly from behind the arc) players in West Michigan.  Matt Karamol roams the inside for Rockford, and is an automatic mismatch for opposing centers on the offensive end because of his quickness and agility down low.  He is the perfect center for Rockford, because he can as easily play facing the basket, creating room down low for the dribble drive..

Against a Grand Haven team that relies on steadfast execution and who is known for their oppressive defense, Rockford’s ability to hit the outside shot may well be the key to their success, as it will open up the rest of their offense.

Matchup to watch

Grand Haven’s Noah Veach versus Rockford’s Ryan Majerle.  Majerle is the leader of the Rams on both offense and defense, and can get hot in a hurry if he hits a couple shots early.  This then typically translates throughout the entire team, and the Rams become that much harder to contain.  It’s up to Veach to stop Majerle from having that success.  Lucky for the Buccaneers, there are few more equipped than the burly Veach to handle the task.

On the other side, although undersized for the position, Veach is a handful down low.  He is powerful and aggressive, with a motor that doesn’t quit.  Whether guarded by Majerle or a bigger defender, Rockford will need to allocate some serious resources to stopping Veach.

Overall prognosis

As tends to be the case when the longtime O-K Red rivals meet, this one will be a battle.  In the state tournament, the smart money goes on defense, which is Grand Haven.  But that’s far from a sure thing.  The prediction here is that this one goes down to the wire, and Grand Haven ends up on top by two.  Call it 61-59.

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Anyway, I digress.  Best caption for this uber-cute photo wins!

Future Rams put in work | Jamie Oosting

Congratulations go out to last week’s winner: mememememe.

Ryan Darby goes for the ball | Powers Media

Caption: Basketball Twister . . . put your left foot on the three point line and your right hand on the . . on the . . . ball, yeah.

Congratulations, mememememe!  You are proving your wit and scholarly talents on a weekly basis, and we’re all very impressed.

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Justin Klein shoots a fadeaway jumper | David Chandler Photography

High quality professional prints from the game available from David Chandler Photography.

The Grand Haven Buccaneers (14-3) traveled into a hostile black-out crowd for a battle with the Rockford Rams (12-5) Friday night. The Bucs held a slight, one game lead going into the affair, and needed a win to maintain sole possession of 1st place in the O-K Red. Rockford had other ideas, swarming the Buccaneers at home and holding on for a 56-47 victory, tying the Bucs atop the O-K Red.

“Tonight was a big win,” said Rockford coach Steve Majerle. “We pulled even with them. As long as neither of us stumbles down the stretch, we’ll share (the O-K Red Conference championship). We just have to enjoy this one, and refocus for Jenison.”

Noah Veach reverse | David Chandler Photography

Grand Haven sped out to a quick 10-4 lead, sparked by senior Noah Veach. After the Bucs’ speedy jab knocked the Rams off balance, Rockford quickly righted the ship and scored the final five points of the first. Junior Ryan Majerle provided a much-needed spark for Rockford in the second with two clutch three pointers and a pair of free throws. He finished with a game-high 25-points, including 10/10 from the free throw line.

The Rams most potent weapon was their aggressive defense, which kept the Bucs from ever getting into a rhythm and prevented them from executing their gameplan — evident in the difficulty they had getting the ball down low to their Senior standout, 6-foot-10 Nate VanArendonk. VanArendonk managed just eight points in the game.

Then again, that would be Rockford executing their gameplan perfectly.

“The game plan was to make sure they couldn’t get it inside to the big guy [VanArendonk]. We did a great job making them play outside of the paint.” said Coach Majerle.

Though Grand Haven had been the defensive darling in West Michigan for much of the season, their prowess seemed marginal Friday night when compared to the stingy, swarming pack of Rams. VanArendonk effectively neutralized, Grand Haven looked to the aggressive Veach on offense. And Rockford looked to senior Ryan Darby to keep Veach under wraps.

“I thought Darby did a good job on Veach. We thought with VanArendonk in check, they would look more to [Veach].” said Coach Majerle. The problem for the Bucs was they had a hard time looking to either of their standout post players.

Though Grand Haven was able to pull within striking distance multiple times, the long distance threat from Rockford proved to be too much. Rockford finished the game with six buckets from deep compared to just one from Grand Haven. The Rams also dominated in free throws, making 14/15, while the Bucs closed out with 6/10. Isiah Law and Veach were Haven’s high scorers with 12 apiece.

“We still have a lot to play for.” said Haven coach Steve Hewitt. “We’re a good team. We just weren’t determined to move the ball. We were trying to make it happen too quickly. We only shot 10-free throws, and that’s not good enough.”

When asked about playing for a conference title, coach Hewitt seemed less worried about that, and more concerned about finishing the season strong. “We’re going to take these last couple one at a time. We know we still have a lot to play for.”

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Boxscore

We also live tweet updates from the game (which you can get sent to your phone), to make sure that the hardcore fans can keep up with the latest action and analysis, even if they can’t make it to the game.

Tonight is for the O-K Red Championship.

GRAND HAVEN BUCS (14-2, 10-1) AT ROCKFORD RAMS (11-5, 9-2)

There is no overstating the importance of this game for both teams — this is for the O-K Red Championship.  Considering the level of contest that took place the last time these teams met during the relative beginning of the season, with this much riding on the line it is safe to say that fans won’t be disappointed.

Grand Haven in a nutshell

They say that defense wins championships, and all signs point to that axiom holding true for the Buccaneers, who bar none have the best overall defense in West Michigan.  To illustrate, in 11 of their 16-total contests the Buccaneers’ opponent was held to less than 50-points (in six of those 11, their opponent was held to under 40-points).  Grand Haven is on the crest of a nine-game winning streak, after they took the then-untouchable Muskegon Heights to the limit but came up short.  The Bucs look as good as ever right now.

Grand Haven is anchored by senior CMU-commit Nate VanArendonk, who is the sun around which the rest of the Buccaneers orbit.  Among the larger of those satellites are bruising forward Noah Veach and long-range gunslinger Isiah Law, who are both capable of changing the course of a game in their own right.

Grand Haven’s weakness is in their backcourt, although that has gotten stronger in recent weeks.  Rockford will throw a ton of pressure on the Buccaneer guards and hope they cough up the ball.  Grand Haven’s success depends on that not happening.

Rockford in a nutshell

After struggling through a bit of an identity crisis early in the season Rockford is now riding a four-game winning streak, hot off a come-from-behind victory over an extremely talented and well-balanced Hudsonville team at Hudsonville.  They’ve got their feet firmly under them now, and have the talent and gameplan needed to challenge the Bucs.

The Rams are lead by junior do-it-all wingman Ryan Majerle, who is one of the most versatile (and deadly from behind the arc) players in West Michigan.  Matt Karamol roams the inside for Rockford, and is an automatic mismatch for opposing centers on the offensive end because of his quickness and agility down low.  He is the perfect center for a Rockford gameplan designed to run, run, run.

Against a Grand Haven team that plays with a tempo polar-opposite to the Rams, and who is known for their oppressive defense, Rockford’s ability to turn the game into a track meet may well be the key to their success.

Matchup to watch

Grand Haven’s Noah Veach versus Rockford’s Ryan Majerle.  Majerle is the leader of the Rams on both offense and defense, and can get hot in a hurry if he hits a couple shots early.  This then typically translates throughout the entire team, and the Rams become that much harder to contain.  It’s up to Veach to stop Majerle from having that success.  Lucky for the Buccaneers, there are few more equipped than the burly Veach to handle the task.

Overall prognosis

Grand Haven holds off a charging Rockford team late to seal the O-K Red Championship, 57-54.

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