Baumholder's C.J. Roberts drives against Rota's Zach Hudson in opening-day action for Division III at the 2006 DODDS European basketball finals. Baumholder beat the defending champions, 54-33. (Michael Abrams / S&S)
Baumholder's C.J. Roberts drives against Rota's Zach Hudson in opening-day action for Division III at the 2006 DODDS European basketball finals. Baumholder beat the defending champions, 54-33. (Michael Abrams / S&S)
Ansbach's Dominique Whaley drives to the basket against Sigonella's Bernard Washington. Seventh-seeded Ansbach upset top-seeded Sigonella 52-50. (Michael Abrams / S&S)
HEIDELBERG, Germany — Two legitimate Division II contenders opened the second day of the DODDS-Europe boys basketball tournaments Thursday by getting exactly what they wanted.
For Bitburg, seeded sixth out of the 10 D-2 teams playing here despite a 12-2 regular-season record, Thursday’s objective was earning respect.
For top-seeded Aviano, Thursday’s objective was remaining unbeaten.
“It felt like we’ve been disrespected all season,” said Bitburg’s Perry Hardy after he and his Baron teammates waltzed to their third double-digit victory in as many games, 67-47, over Vilseck. “We didn’t even get an article in the paper.”
Charles Whatley made sure the Barons would make the paper this time, scoring 22 points and handing out 10 assists in a contest that Vilseck led for the last time with three minutes to play in the opening period
Alex Hodges added 17 points, and Hardy and Josh Collett scored 10 points and grabbed eight rebounds each for Bitburg, which was to take on two-time defending champ Hanau in one of Thursday’s late pool-play games. Win or lose, Bitburg ensured itself of a spot in Friday afternoon’s D-2 semifinals.
Aviano will be there, too, after a 56-43 victory over Black Forest Academy.
Aviano’s Junior Velez led all scorers with 17 points, and Edmund Johnson added 10.
Aviano won all 13 of its regular-season games by double-digit margins, but BFA threatened to end that with a 19-10 run over the first 9:54 of the second half.
In the other tournaments at Heidelberg and in Mannheim:
Division I: Defending champion Würzburg won its pool and nailed down the final spot in Thursday night’s D-1 semifinals with a 58-35 victory over International School of Brussels.
Würzburg was to take on Ramstein, while top-seeded Wiesbaden, which beat Heidelberg to eliminate the Lions by point differential, was to play Kaiserslautern in Thursday’s D-1 final four. The winners will play for the crown at 7:45 p.m. Friday.
Division III: Seventh-seeded Ansbach pulled off an early pool-play stunner by beating top-seeded Sigonella 52-50.
In other games, Baumholder whacked No. 9 American Overseas School of Rome 54-29, then defeated defending champion Rota 54-33 and second-seeded London Central escaped No. 8 Vicenza 53-51.
Division IV: Giessen claimed a 56-20 victory over out-manned Brussels. The Brigands were seeded fourth before disciplinary problems forced coach Chris Vahrenhorst to dismiss five players — four of them starters — from the squad before the tournament began. Brussels could field only five players in its four tourney games.
Numbers, however, seemed not to bother the surviving Brigands. They stood their ground and took charges as though the tournament were on the line during their loss to Giessen. Giessen moved into Friday’s 9 a.m. semifinals. The D-4 title game is scheduled for 4:15 p.m. Friday.
Scores and schedulesMANNHEIM, Germany — Results from the DODDS-Europe basketball championships. Final games in Divisions I and IV are scheduled for Friday, and in Divisions II and III are scheduled for Saturday. Tickets for Friday’s and Saturday’s games at all venues are $5 for adults and $3 for students. Pool-play games are four seven-minute periods:
Division I
Wednesday’s late pool-play results
Wiesbaden 58, Heidelberg 44
Thursday’s pool-play results
Kaiserslautern 55, Lakenheath 33
Würzburg 58, Int’l School of Brussels 35
Thursday’s semifinals
Wiesbaden vs. Kaiserslautern, late
Würzburg vs. Ramstein, late
Friday’s games
Third place
at Sullivan Barracks, Mannheim
Semifinal losers, 4:15 p.m.
Championship
at BFV Sports Arena, Mannheim
Semifinal winners, 7:45 p.m.
Division II
Wednesday’s late pool-play results
Bitburg 67, Naples 39
Aviano 51, Patch 35
Hanau 68, Mannheim 30
Thursday’s pool-play results
Bitburg 67, Vilseck 47
Aviano 56, Black Forest Academy 43
Hanau 60, Naples 37
SHAPE 43, Patch 31
BFA 54, AFNORTH 44
Mannheim 77, Naples 56
Aviano vs. SHAPE, late
Hanau vs. Bitburg, late
Mannheim vs. Vilseck, late
Patch vs. AFNORTH, late
Friday’s games
Semifinals
1 p.m. at BFV Sports Arena, Mannheim
1:30 p.m. at Sullivan Barracks, Mannheim
Third place
at Sullivan Barracks, Mannheim
Semifinal losers, 6:45 p.m.
Division III
Thursday’s pool-play results
Baumholder 54, American Overseas School of Rome 29
London Central 53, Vicenza 51
Ansbach 52, Sigonella 50
Baumholder 54, Rota 53
London Central 79, Bamberg 74 (3OT)
Sigonella vs. Hohenfels, late
Rota vs. AOSR, late
Bamberg vs. Vicenza, late
Hohenfels vs. Ansbach, late
Friday’s games
Quarterfinals
Noon and 1:30 p.m. at Coleman Barracks, Mannheim, and Heidelberg High School
Semifinals
at Coleman barracks, Mannheim
6 and 7:30 p.m.
Saturday’s games
Third place at Sullivan Barracks
Semifinal losers, 10:15 a.m.
Championship at BFV Sports Arena, Mannheim
Semifinal winners, 4 p.m.
Division IV
Wednesday’s late pool-play results
Incirlik 40, Brussels 19
Giessen 54, Lajes 14
Thursday’s pool-play results
Giessen 56, Brussels 20
Giessen 73, Incirlik 47
Livorno 42, Brussels 38
Alconbury 53, Iceland 35
Iceland 48, Menwith Hill 35
Ankara 42, Milan 20
Lajes 37, Incirlik 28
Menwith Hill 36, Milan 14
Alconbury 48, Ankara 27
Livorno vs. Lajes, late
Friday’s games
Semifinals
9 a.m. at BFV Sports Arena and Sullivan Barracks, Mannheim
Third place
at Sullivan Barracks, Mannheim
Semifinal losers, 2:30 p.m.
Championship
at BFV Sports Arena, Mannheim
Semifinal winners, 4:15 p.m.
