Sunday, February 25, 2001

By Rusty Bryan
Stars and Stripes

Michael Abrams / Stars and Stripes The Bad Kreuznach Bearkats celebrate winning the DODDS-Europe Division III championship Saturday. It was the school's final basketball game; the Army is moving out of Bad Kreuznach this year, and will turn over the facilities there to the German government.

MANNHEIM, Germany — Unlike your average football team, the Bad Kreuznach Bearkats were delighted to go three-and-out.

For a while, they weren’t sure they could.

"We didn’t think we had it," said late-game hero Jonathan Dukes after BK clawed out of an eight-point hole to claim its third straight Division III title with a 66-58 overtime victory over Hohenfels.

Dukes’ pessimism seemed well-founded at the time, especially after Hohenfels went up 51-43 with just over two minutes remaining on a beautifully executed alley-oop play from James Panui to Micah McDuffie.

But as long as there’s time on the clock and a possession or two left, there’s a chance, particularly with a team as talented as BK.

Junior Ayala, who scored 18 points, breathed life into BK with a nothing-but-net trey from the left baseline. When Patrick Crockett drained another trey, BK was back in business. It only remained for Dukes to get the Bearkats all the way back.

Sent to the line for two shots with 10.7 seconds to play, Dukes swished both to tie the game at 51 and force overtime.

"When I made the first one, it was a big relief." Dukes said. "I thought a had a chance to make the second one, too."

In all, Dukes went 4-for-4 from the line in the fourth quarter. The success came as a welcome change.

"Lately, my free-throw percentage hasn’t been very good," Dukes admitted. "It must have been the rims or something at Alconbury. I couldn’t make any free throws there."

When he made them on Saturday, it was all over for Hohenfels, which had already lost Panui to fouls and saw Dimetrius Whitaker foul out moments into overtime. The Tigers didn’t have the depth to keep up with BK’s long bench, particularly when Ayala stayed hot. He scored six points in the extra session, including a three-point play that had the depleted Tigers playing catch-up the rest of the way.

Hohenfels, on a swishing trey from the left wing by McDuffie — who scored 20 points — got as close as 60-58 with 45 seconds to play, but an Ayala putback and a Marchello Fields jumper sealed it.

This championship, which came without any scoring except two left-handed free throws from injured All-Europe star Keith Walker, will be the last for BK, which is closing its doors forever in June as the Bad Kreuznach community closes up shop.

Dukes couldn’t think of a better way to go out.

"It’s good for the school, good for the team and good for the coach [Carl Johnson]," he said.

At presstime Saturday, no results were available from the Division III third-place game between Incirlik and Vicenza.

Back to February's stories
Page Two news roundup
Stories from January, 2001
Stories from December, 2000
Stories from November, 2000
Stories from October, 2000
Stories from August and September, 2000
Stories from June and July, 2000
Home