BAUMHOLDER, Germany — Two-time defending European champion Bamberg will be back to defend its crown in this year’s European D-III tournament, scheduled for Feb. 19-21 in Mannheim.

Bamberg, which nearly blew a 22-point lead in Friday’s 54-50 victory over Baumholder, dropped its first league game of the season 48-46 on Saturday. But the Barons (8-1, III-South) still claimed the league title and the berth in the Europeans that goes with it.

Kris Starr scored 25 points on Friday to pace the Barons, but he was not a factor on Saturday when the Bucs went on a 15-8 fourth-quarter run.

Baumholder is 6-4 in league play going into the III-South regional.

Naples reaches Europeans

VICENZA, Italy — The Naples Wildcats claimed the automatic berth in the European D-III tournament that goes to the American Schools in Italy League regular-season champion by sweeping Vicenza 58-18 on Friday and 60-37 on Saturday.

The Wildcats finished the regular season 13-1. Although they’ll play in this week’s Mediterranean Regional scheduled for Thursday-Saturday at Aviano, they are assured of a slot at the Europeans regardless of their tournament finish.

Aviano clinches second

AVIANO AB, Italy — Behind the scoring of Dustin Miller, the Aviano Saints rebounded from last weekend’s losses at Naples to earn the second seed in the Mediterranean Regional by sweeping the Sigonella Jaguars.

Miller had 34 points in Friday’s 75-55 victory, then scored 25 in Saturday 61-52 win. The victories pushed Aviano’s record to 12-2. Sigonella fell to 10-4.

Brussels tops III-North

RAF ALCONBURY, England — The experienced Brussels Brigands wrapped up the Division III-North regular-season championship with a road sweep.

Devell Landfair scored 23 points in Friday’s 69-41 win; Lonnie Ruffin led the way with 12 points in Saturday’s 47-37 victory that boosted the Brigands’ record to 11-1.

Alconbury (0-12) will host the Brigands again this week at the III-North Regional, which will take place Thursday-Saturday. Even though it’s the conference champion, Brussels must reach the title game of the regional to qualify for the European D-III tournament Feb. 19-20 in Mannheim.

Bobcats split

HIGH WYCOMBE, England — The London Central Bobcats, winless last season, earned the runner-up spot in the III-North league race by splitting with visiting Menwith Hill on Friday and Saturday.

Under new coach Allen Campbell, the Bobcats finished 11-6 overall and 8-4 in III-North after prevailing 58-46 on Friday behind the scoring of Jesse Ditter (23 points), Foxy Thomas (18 points) and Kirk Warrior (13 points, 19 rebounds) before falling 48-43 on Saturday.

Menwith Hill (5-7) rebounded behind 27 points from Phillip Greenwalt. Both teams advance to the III-North regional.

Hanau stays atop D-II

BITBURG AB, Germany — The Hanau Panthers maintained their lead in the D-II race with a 36-25 victory on Friday and a 46-21 romp on Saturday over the Bitburg Barons.

Freshman Jeremy Marshall led the way on Friday with 18 points, and Dominic Sims and Malcolm Lane paced the team with 13 and 11 points, respectively, on Saturday. Marcus Fontanez scored 10 points and grabbed 12 rebounds.

The victories pushed Hanau’s record to 10-2; Bitburg is 5-7.

Hanau will close out the regular season at AFNORTH on Friday and Saturday; Bitburg will host Patch.

Ramstein sweeps

RAMSTEIN AB, Germany — Jose Montero struck for 28 points Saturday as the Ramstein Royals completed a home-and-home weekend sweep of Würzburg with a 63-23 mercy-rule victory that pushed the home team’s record to 9-3 overall and 7-3 in Division I.

Montero scored 20 points in Ramstein’s 55-22 victory in Würzburg on Friday. The Wolves fell to 1-11 overall and 0-10 in D-I.

Ramstein closes out its regular season with road games at Kaiserslautern on Feb. 3 and at Heidelberg on Feb. 10.

Wiesbaden, Lancers split

RAF LAKENHEATH, England — The Wiesbaden Warriors and Lakenheath Lancers remained in the D-I logjam, chasing unbeaten Heidelberg, by splitting games on Friday and Saturday and leaving Wiesbaden with a 6-5 conference record and Lakenheath at 5-4.

Lakenheath prevailed 62-46 on Friday behind 16 points, eight rebounds, four steals and three assists by John Rogers. Wiesbaden won 61-53 on Saturday behind 19 points from Ian Bates.

Also in the mix for second place in D-I are Kaiserslautern, which took a 5-4 league mark into Friday and Saturday home games against 1-7 International School of Brussels, and 6-3 Ramstein.

Wiesbaden closes out its regular season by hosting Heidelberg on Tuesday night. Lakenheath, which had its two games at Heidelberg snowed out Jan. 30-31, has completed its season.

Next stop for the Lancers is the European Division I tournament Feb. 19-21 in Mannheim.

Migrated