Rota's Kaya Geylani prevents a layup Friday, Feb. 13, 2026, by fouling Black Forest Academy's Mateo Chamberlain during a semifinal game at the DODEA-Europe boys Division II basketball championships at Wiesbaden, Germany. (Kent Harris/Stars and Stripes)
WIESBADEN, Germany – The two-time defending DODEA-Europe Division II boys basketball champions found out what it would be like without their star center on the court Friday.
Fortunately for Vicenza, 6-foot-9 Simon Gilbert had already scored 13 points to help the Cougars out to a big lead Friday in the semifinals against Sigonella. But he drew his second technical of the contest with 1 minute, 54 seconds left in the opening half and had to watch from the bench the rest of the contest.
The Cougars didn’t seem to miss him that much against the Jaguars, though – at least according to the scoreboard. Vicenza won big to have the right to defend its title Saturday against Black Forest Academy, which jumped on Rota from the start and never let up.
Vicenza's Ben Morton shoots Friday, Feb. 13, 2026, during a semifinal game of the DODEA-Europe boys Division II basketball championships in Wiesbaden, Germany. (Kent Harris/Stars and Stripes)
Vicenza’s Simon Gilbert tries to score under the basket Friday, Feb. 13, 2026, during a semifinal game at the DODEA-Europe boys Division II basketball championships in Wiesbaden, Germany. (Kent Harris/Stars and Stripes)
Vicenza's Dylan Horrigan puts up a shot Friday, Feb. 13, 2026, while defended by Sigonella's William Thompson during a semifinal game of the DODEA-Europe boys Division II basketball championships in Wiesbaden, Germany. (Kent Harris/Stars and Stripes)
Sigonella's Jacob Maloney puts up a shot Friday, Feb. 13, 2026, while defended by Vicenza's Jarell Wing Jr. during a semifinal at the DODEA-Europe boys Division II basketball championships in Wiesbaden, Germany. (Kent Harris/Stars and Stripes)
Sigonella's Keiron Cayton tries to score on a fastbreak Friday, Feb. 13, 2026, during a semifinal game at the DODEA-Europe boys Division II basketball championships in Wiesbaden, Germany. (Kent Harris/Stars and Stripes)
Vicenza 68, Sigonella 42: Gilbert left with the Cougars up 30-12. Alex Trescott responded with five straight points and Vicenza went on to take a 39-16 advantage into halftime.
The game never really got close in the second half.
Sigonella, which took advantage of its speed at guard and a rotating set of board-crashing taller players to advance to the final game, could never get any momentum going.
“We knew we could beat them if we did everything right,” Jaguars coach Jimmy Martin said. “We still think we’re championship caliber, but we just couldn’t get it done tonight.”
So it’s back to the finals for Gilbert and point guard Dylan Horrigan, who won the title a year ago with three senior starters – two of them selected All-Europe.
“We lost a lot of guys from last year,” Horrigan said. “To go from just Simon and I who had a lot of playing time to add new guys into the mix … it took a lot of work.”
Black Forest Academy's Leo Hemphill puts up a shot Friday, Feb. 13, 2026, while guarded by Rota's Gordon Mathurin during a semifinal game at the DODEA-Europe boys Division II basketball championships in Wiesbaden, Germany. (Kent Harris/Stars and Stripes)
Black Forest Academy's Luke Hartman launches a three-point shot Friday, Feb. 13, 2026, during a semifinal game at the DODEA-Europe boys Division II basketball championships in Wiesbaden, Germany. (Kent Harris/Stars and Stripes)
Black Forest Academy's Uriah Trusty scores Friday, Feb. 13, 2026, while getting fouled by Rota's Lucca Guido during a semifinal game at the DODEA-Europe boys Division II basketball championships in Wiesbaden, Germany. (Kent Harris/Stars and Stripes)
Rota's Jad Acutim puts in two of his game-high 27 points Friday, Feb. 13, 2026, during a semifinal of the DODEA-Europe boys Division II basketball championships in Wiesbaden, Germany. (Kent Harris/Stars and Stripes)
BFA 64, Rota 53: It was a game of runs between two teams that hadn’t played each other during the regular season. And the Falcons just had more of them.
Leading only 19-16 after a quarter, BFA used a 14-2 run to take a 37-25 advantage into halftime.
The Admirals bounced back by scoring nine of the first 10 points in the third quarter, with Jad Acutim scoring both on a three-point play and a three-point shot during that span.
But the Falcons then reeled off nine straight points to pull away and the lead wasn’t seriously threatened after that.
Acutim, who finished with a game-high 27 points, and Lucca Guido each managed to connect on a few shots beyond the arc. But the Falcons didn’t give them a lot of open looks with an extended matchup zone defense.
“They stretched their zone out and we couldn’t get anything going inside,” Rota coach Ben Anderson said. “All credit to them. They outplayed us and deserved the win.”
Coach Taylor Hemphill’s team might be peaking at the right time.
“It seems like it,” he said. “To me, that’s the best we’ve played all year over four quarters.”
Vicenza has defeated BFA twice this season, including once in the tournament where the Cougars took a big lead and then had to scramble to hold off the Falcons late.
“I hope we can pick up where we left off late in the last game,” Hemphill said.
Leo Hemphill, the coach’s junior son, said his team will have to try a different approach on defense against Vicenza and their big center.
“We’ve just got to pack it in and play a tighter zone,” Leo Hemphill said.
The point guard finished with 14 points, second on the team to Uriah Trusty’s 16. The two hooked up on several plays that resulted with layups for Trusty.
“When he’s running on the fast break, he’s just incredibly athletic,” Leo Hemphill said of Trusty.
Mateo Chamberlain added 10 points for the Falcons.
