In his 13 months in Hohenfels, All-Europe senior guard Jamie Tompkins has developed a knack for getting the most of what appears at first to be a step down.

First, Tompkins, who just turned 18, was faced with leaving the high-profile hoops world of Charleston, W.Va., and AAU ball there to toil in the obscurity - especially in the eyes of stateside college recruiters - of DODDS-Europe Division II basketball in remote Bavaria.

Tompkins chose to make the best of it. The former reserve in West Virginia stepped into a starter’s role at Hohenfels last season and immediately elevated the Tigers into championship contenders. Hohenfels finished second to defending D-II champion Aviano after a season which saw Tompkins average 20 points and six assists per game and making the All-Europe second team.

Then, before he could get back on the court this season to get another season under way, he and his teammates had to wait out an onslaught by Old Man Winter. Snow wiped out the Tigers’ four scheduled pre-holiday-break games, and the season didn’t begin until Friday, when the Tigers began a two-game weekend sweep of visiting Mannheim.

“It was horrible,” Tompkins said Tuesday by telephone of the one-month layoff. Then he immediately returned to his habit of looking on the bright side by adding, “But it gave us more time to bond as a team.”

The bonding paid off in 49-43 and 67-55 victories over Mannheim, with Tompkins scoring 46 points in the twin-killing. But those numbers are just the tip of the iceberg of Tompkins’ contribution to the team, according to his coach, Jimmy Calhoun.

“His strength is his basketball IQ,” Calhoun said by phone as the Tigers arrived in Vilseck on Tuesday for a make-up game. “He just understands the whole game. People will expect him to score 30 points, but if he sees we need him to make more assists or do something else, he’ll do that. He does it instinctively.”

Tompkins’ goal for the Tigers this season is to take the final step at the D-II tournament Feb. 23-26, but the transfer of 6-foot-4-inch All-Europe forward-center Jordan Gaddy to Guam means the 2011 Tigers will have to take a different route this year to any potential titles.

“We’re smaller, so we have to run more,” Tompkins said. “We have to get out on the break.”

The stylistic change is fine with Tompkins, who supplanted his coach’s son, J.J., as the Tigers’ point guard and has used his quickness to excel in the role. Calhoun said his son, who teams in the backcourt with Tompkins these days, was more than cool with the arrangement.

“When Jamie arrived,” the elder Calhoun said, “J.J. said to me, ‘Dad, I’ll come off the bench if you need me to.’ ”

Pine-time however, wasn’t required. Instead, both are on the court, with Tompkins opening up opportunities for others by drawing plenty of attention from opposing defenses.

“Right now, he’s a marked man,” the elder Calhoun said of his returning All-European, “but he knows what to do.”

Tompkins knows what to do after high school, too, when he’s planning to head back to West Virginia.

“I’m planning to attend Marshall University,” said Tompkins, who added that’s he’s preparing a highlight tape in a bid to walk on with the Herd basketball team. “I’m looking at studying accounting, so I can become a sports agent. I want to do something to stay as close to basketball as I can.”

bryanr@estripes.osd.mil

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