Patch's Eric Stiemke drives past three Cougars on Saturday during an early season game between the Panthers and Ansbach. (Michael S. Darnell/Stars and Stripes)
Patch's Eric Stiemke drives past three Cougars on Saturday during an early season game between the Panthers and Ansbach. (Michael S. Darnell/Stars and Stripes)
Derrick McMorris is unable to stop Patch's Pablo Paradis from scoring in the fourth quarter of the game between the Panthers and Ansbach on Dec. 13, 2014. (Michael S. Darnell/Stars and Stripes)
Ansbach's Garry Dupree and Patch's Devin Rehwaldt had a mini rivalry going during an early season matchup Dec. 13, 2014. Rehwaldt got the last laugh, as the Panthers won 73-33. (Michael S. Darnell/Stars and Stripes)
Treshon Jenkins scored 15 of the Panthers points, as Patch rolled over the Ansbach Cougars, 44-5 during a game at Ansbach, Germany on Dec. 13, 2014. (Michael S. Darnell/Stars and Stripes)
Jaxen Godfrey goes up against nearly the entire Ansbach defense for a score during a game Saturday between the Panthers and Cougars. (Michael S. Darnell/Stars and Stripes)
ANSBACH, Germany - It’s Patch’s world; the rest of DODDS Europe is just playing in it.
At least that’s how it looked Saturday, as the Panthers rolled through Ansbach like a miniature, basketball court-sized hurricane, with both the boys’ and girls’ varsity teams tearing through the Cougars in back-to-back blowouts.
BoysPatch 73, Ansbach 33: It was perhaps a bit of an unfair match up, considering Patch is Division I and Ansbach is Division II, but a win is a win, as they say, and the Panther boys are now 4-0 on the season.
Alec Basgall (18 points), Colin Whitten (15), and Holton Sparling (10) lead the Panthers in scoring. They did it in somewhat different ways. Whitten went 5 for 6 from the free throw line. Basgall lived downtown, nailing three three-point shots.
“It was an exciting game to win,” Whitten said. “Not just because of the win, but because we did so well. We all really played well today.”
The Panthers will now head into next week’s annual Christmas tournament, which isn’t part of the official DODDS schedule, riding high on a seasonal wave of good cheer.
Meanwhile, the Cougars will regroup and try shore up the holes in their game.
The most immediate of those issues was their lack of accuracy. The Cougars were in great position all afternoon long, but they just couldn’t manage to sink the necessary shots.
But Ansbach showed flashes and could be dangerous by season’s end, especially if first-year varsity player Garry Dupree and returning star Derrick McMorris continue to improve.
Dupree was the man the Cougars turned to when they needed to get into position and McMorris was the guy he fed all afternoon. Dupree only scored five and McMorris seven, but they had so many close shots that it could’ve been much more.
“We’re really coming together,” Dupree said. “We’re a competitive team and it’s not fun not winning, but we’ll bounce back.”
Whitten laid out the Panthers plans heading into that fracas next week.
“Well, we plan on winning,” he said.
GirlsPatch 44, Ansbach 5: The Lady Cougars fared no better than the boys, with their squad being held scoreless for most of the game.
The Panthers jumped ahead to an 11-0 lead in the first quarter, largely on the play of Treshon Jenkins, who had a stellar game, scoring 15 from the floor and plaguing the Cougars’ every play.
“I don’t really keep track of stats or anything like that, but I felt like that was a good game,” she said. “It really is a team effort and we’re just a great unit.”
Jenkins, a returning player from last year’s second-place squad, said she believes this year’s team has the tools to go the distance.
“This year we have better players in the post,” she said. “Personally, I got a lot better, my attitude is better and I’m a better shooter.”
Jenkins and her team will go on to play in a holiday tournament in Kaiserslautern.
