Rockford boys rally past Hudsonville to snap two-game losing streak
Jane Bos | The Grand Rapids Press
ROCKFORD -- Rockford boys
basketball coach Steve Majerle tried to inspire his team by bringing
in former Ram stars to speak.
He stopped shaving, vowing to grow his facial hair until they started
playing better.
And before Friday night's game against visiting Hudsonville, he
crammed the team into his classroom to watch the highlight film from
the 2003 state championship season.
None of it seemed to work -- again -- during the first half. Trailing
20-12, the Rams did not look capable of snapping their two-game losing
streak.
So Majerle tried another approach. This one stuck. Rockford rallied,
posting a 55-51 victory.
The win keeps the defending O-K Red Conference champ Rams (3-1,
4-3) tied atop the conference with Grand Haven. Hudsonville (6-2),
which last won the O-K Red title in 1967, fell one game back at 2-2.
A pretty rousing halftime talk, right, coach?
"I wish I could tell you I had a great halftime speech," Majerle
said. "I just appealed to their wearing a Rockford jersey and
playing at home. If I found something that worked, I would put it
in a jar and sell it."
No magic, no wand. Just a quiet appeal to pride.
The Rams began whittling away at the lead, narrowing it to 35-32
at the start of the fourth quarter. They started rebounding and moving
on offense.
They stopped forcing shots outside and got the ball inside to Matt
Karamol. They played with enthusiasm and urgency.
"That was missing for our first six games," Majerle said. "We
had won three because we were skilled, not because of mental toughness.
The second half, we finally found a way to win. I am not sure what
it was, they just decided to turn it on."
Karamol -- the team's "best-kept secret," according to
Majerle -- certainly turned it up a notch. He scored 14 of his 16
points in the second-half. The senior, who has been on the varsity
since a sophomore, but has been hampered by injury and illness, had
six rebounds and two assists.
"I think we were stressing so much on defense, and our offense
struggled in the first half," Karamol said. "It's not something
we expected, scoring only 12 points, but we stuck it to there on
defense, and we only gave up 20 points.
"I think we just got really motivated to win this game. We
were really pumped up."
That showed in the second half. And, after trailing since early
in the first quarter, the Rams regained the lead for good, 39-36,
on a 3-pointer by Robert Pierson with 6:05 left in the game.
Pierson scored 11 points and grabbed seven rebounds, while Connor
McCrane and Justin Kline came off the bench to score nine points.
"It felt like we had control in the first half, and we also
knew that they would come out different in the second half," Eric
Elliott, Hudsonville's first-year coach and a former star, said. "We
expected them to do what they did, pound it inside, and Karamol was
tough for us to defend in the second half. We were right there a
couple times. We were one or two little things away.
"These guys have not done a lot of winning. We are working
through that. We will get there. They played their hearts out tonight."
Hudsonville, which won seven games last season, already has six
victories after eight games this season. The Eagles have the talent
to do more.
On Friday, they were led by 6-foot-6 sophomore B.J. VanLoo with
14 points. Austin Elling, a 6-8 senior center, had 13 points and
nine rebounds. Nick VanLoo, a senior and B.J.'s brother, scored nine
points.
