Kaiserslautern players raise their arms on defense during the girls' high school basketball game in Kaiserslautern on Friday night. The Red Raiders beat Baumholder 41-6. (Jennifer H. Svan/Stars and Stripes)
Kaiserslautern players raise their arms on defense during the girls' high school basketball game in Kaiserslautern on Friday night. The Red Raiders beat Baumholder 41-6. (Jennifer H. Svan/Stars and Stripes)
Kaiserslautern's Teranda Dunlap dribbles through Baumholder defenders during Friday night's girls' basketball game at Kaiserslautern High School. The Red Raiders won 41-6. (Jennifer H. Svan/Stars and Stripes)
Kaiserslautern junior Lorenzo Williams tries to get around Baumholder senior Ben McDaniels during Friday night's boys' basketball game in Kaiserslautern. The Red Raiders won 46-32. (Jennifer H. Svan/Stars and Stripes)
KAISERSLAUTERN, Germany – With the score a lopsided 26-5 at the end of the first half Friday night, the Kaiserslautern and Baumholder high school boys’ basketball teams seemed headed for a repeat performance.Earlier, the Kaiserslautern girls walloped a young, inexperienced Baumholder squad 41-6, with eight different players putting points on the board for the Red Raiders. At halftime, Kaiserslautern was up 21-2. The second half of the boys’ game told a different story, though. Baumholder clawed its way back, narrowing the gap to 38-27 with just over 4 minutes to play. The Bucs forced a number of Kaiserslautern turnovers and pulled down numerous rebounds, infusing energy and excitement into the game. But the clear momentum shift still wasn’t enough to overtake a stronger, more skilled Kaiserslautern team. The Raiders put up 20 points in the second half to win 46-32. “It was an ugly second half,” Kaiserslautern boys’ coach Brant Tryon said. “We’ve got to learn to play four quarters. We weren’t converting what we needed to at the end.”Kaiserslautern senior point guard Deshun Jefferies said “we kind of eased up a little bit because of the lead we had. We can’t do that.”Leading Kaiserslautern - which goes to 3-1 on the year - in scoring was senior Makel Famer with nine points. Juniors Lorenzo Williams and Andrew Stern had eight points apiece.Tryon said Baumholder “has a great squad,” even though the high school is small and - as one fan noted - getting smaller with the elimination of the 170th Infantry Brigade Combat Team.“They have some wonderful talent at the freshman level,” Tryon said, mentioning “No. 3” Joseph Gouty, a Baumholder freshman point guard who led all scorers in the game with 16 points. Gouty also had two blocks and had six steals.“They don’t ever quit … that’s the one thing about them,” Baumholder boys’ basketball coach Chris Clark said. Baumholder’s record fell to 1-4, but Clark said his team thinks it has a chance to win every time. With Gouty and senior Ben McDaniels, “as long as I’ve got them, I’m in the game,” he said.In the girls’ game, Baumholder was no match for a more experienced Kaiserslautern squad.“We have a lot of inexperience,” Baumholder girls’ coach Charlie Hunt said. “We’re just trying to get them to work together as a team. That’s what we’re seeing develop, so we like that.”The Kaiserslautern girls, whom remain undefeated, put in a true team effort, according to head coach Corey Sullivan: “Everyone got to play; everyone got to contribute,” he said.
