A set of evenly matched doubleheader splits between European championship hopefuls made for a stirring end to the 2016-17 DODEA-Europe boys basketball regular season and a compelling prelude to next week’s four-day title tournament.

Stuttgart 64/60, Kaiserslautern 62/60: At Kaiserslautern, a pair of Division I programs played to a stalemate.

Stuttgart made a substantial early lead stand up despite a furious Raider rally in Saturday’s two-point Panther win. Daniel Wetlesen scored 22 points in the win, offsetting a 29-point outburst from Kaiserslautern guard Isiah Washington.

The Raiders avoided a major early deficit Friday and came through in crunch time to secure their second Division I victory of the season. Washington scored 21 and Marlon Robbins joined his teammates in double figures with 12. Tristen Phelps scored 19 for the Panthers.

The teams will enter the Division I tournament among a thick pack of mid-tier teams chasing frontrunning Wiesbaden and defending champion Ramstein.

Vilseck 58/47, Black Forest Academy 52/62: At Kandern, Germany, both flocks of Falcons recorded a win and a loss.

BFA won Friday’s opener after rushing out to a 17-6 lead through one quarter. Noah Greathouse scored 15 points and Jonah Greathouse scored 13 to pace the home team.

Vilseck responded the next day with a comeback win featuring an 18-7 fourth-quarter run. Kenya Pinckney scored 12, Tim Simmons added 11 and Christian Mitchell notched 10 in a balanced offensive attack.

Count Vilseck among the group of fringe contenders hoping to break up the Wiesbaden-Ramstein logjam atop the Division I tournament bracket next week. BFA will be looking for a breakthrough of its own after falling to Rota in last year’s Division II title game.

Brussels 46/30, AFNORTH 41/56: The Benelux rivals played to a home-and-home doubleheader split Friday and Saturday, with each team winning on the road.

Visiting Brussels claimed a narrow five-point win Friday behind a 16-point, five-assist performance from Paul Hubbard.

AFNORTH evened the series Saturday on the strength of a remarkable 28-point outing from Aires Lopez that included nine made three-pointers in 11 attempts.

Brussels now moves on to defend its Division III European crown, while AFNORTH enters the Division II bracket.

Baumholder 47/34, Bitburg 34/41: Both the Barons and Bucs got a home-court boost heading into the tournament.

Baumholder won the half of the home-and-home split that it hosted on Friday. Daryon Jones scored 17, Lester Jungbluth added 15 and Nate Horton chipped in 12 points in the win for the Division III leaders.

Bitburg took over the duties of both hosting and winning on Saturday. Javian Rouse and George Woodley each scored 12 points in the victory, which handed Baumholder just its second overall loss of the season.

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