Rockford Rams vs.Grandville Bulldogs

Rockford Rams 52, Grandville Bulldogs 47

Rams Go Up Early in Win Over Bulldogs

-by YHTSN.com Sports Writer (2/9/2010)

The Rockford Rams came out hot to outscore the Grandville Bulldogs 34-22 in the first half; then held on for the win in men’s varsity basketball.

In the first meeting of these two teams back on January 5th, it was the Bulldogs that came out hot and posted a 36-26 lead. But this time it was a combination of the Rams extending their defense to hold the Bulldogs to 2/11 shooting from three point range, and shooting a strong 50% from the field themselves that made the difference. Ryan Majerle led the Rams shooting barrage hitting a blistering 4/5 (80%) from the field and 4/7 from beyond the arc. Compare that to the 25% the Rams shot in the first half of the January game, and it’s easy to see why the outcome of this game was in Rockford’s favor.

Missing for the Bulldogs was Spencer Nabors, who hit three critical 3-point shots in the first half of that first game, and contributed 15 points in 23 minutes of play in the Bulldog’s winning effort. Nabors was a non-factor in tonight’s game. One turnover was his total contribution tonight in 13 minutes of limited play. As a result the Bulldogs shot only 2/11 (18%) from three point range versus 8/18 (44%) for the Rams.

Rockford center Matt Karamol had another solid game, scoring 9 points and pulling down 8 rebounds. Majerle led all scorers with 22 points and grabbed 5 boards, while playing with four fouls. Both Ryan Darby and Stephen May added 8 points each, while Robert Peirson pulled 5 balls off the glass for the Rams.

Terrence Harris came up big for the Bulldogs with 18 points and grabbed 12 boards. Jake Blauwkamp scored 11 points and pulled down 4 rebounds, and Ben Lanning had 5 boards for Grandville.

Rockford’s record improves to 8-2 in the conference, one game behind leader Grand Haven. The Rams are now 10-5 overall and travel to Hudsonville (7-3, 12-3) for a showdown with the Eagles on Friday.

Grandville drops to 2-8 in the OK Red, 5-10 overall. The Bulldogs will try to get back on a winning track when they travel to Jenison (4-6, 7-8) on Friday.