RAF LAKENHEATH, England – Wiesbaden’s first basketball foray into Division I territory this year ended in four victories for the German school.
The Warrior boys – second in Europe a year ago - beat out Lakenheath on Friday and Saturday in two nail-bitingly close games. The Lancers lost by the slimmest of margins on Friday, 74-71 in overtime.
The Lancers on Saturday appeared set to completely overrun their Continental rivals’ defense during the fourth quarter by scoring 23 points — almost as much as their first two quarters combined. Wiesbaden, aided by a few free throws, always managed to stay ahead, however, and won the game 59-55.
“We did a good job of staying positive no matter what happened on the floor,” said Wiesbaden Coach David Brown.
While the two victories leave the Warriors 4-0 for the season, Brown said Lakenheath’s “great job attacking the glass” exposed his boys’ need to work on rebounding.
Still, Brown likes his team’s championship chances.
“Our goal is to progress each weekend and that’s way more important than the wins and losses,” Brown said.
The defending champion Wiesbaden girls had an easier time, beating the Lancer girls by more than 20 points on Friday and Saturday: 57-28 and 53-28.
Jim Campbell, coach for the Wiesbaden girls, also emphasized their goal of using every game to improve.
“The first quarter (on Saturday) we played some really good defense which led to a lot of transition points and we also shot really well,” Campbell said.
Until this weekend, the Lancer girls had an undefeated season, beating out Alconbury in two games. Lakenheath Coach Jon Mittenzwey pointed out that the girls’ team only had two returners and he is using six freshmen and sophomores.
“In effect, we’re nearly starting over,” Mittenzwey said.
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