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RAMSTEIN AIR BASE, Germany – Three days after they absorbed a 67-62 loss at Wiesbaden, the Ramstein Royals injected themselves back into the Region II and Division I races with a 77-55 payback conquest of the Warriors on Friday night.Four players from the two-time defending European D-I champions scored in double figures on Friday – DeVonte Allen (18), Joel Wetlesen (14), Thomas Amrine (12) and Jarrod Henry (10) – as the Royals handed the Warriors their first loss of the season.More than that, they clamped a lid on Wiesbaden’s sophomore star, Roscoe Johnson. Johnson, who scored 28 points on Tuesday and played mistake-free basketball, managed only six points in the rematch.“On Tuesday night, Wiesbaden taught us a very important lesson about what it's going to take to win away from home,” Ramstein coach Andy O’Connor wrote in a Saturday morning E-mail.“We got caught up in the botched scorekeeping and fouls called on the wrong players, when we should have been worried about how great Wiesbaden is playing. They are so improved from last season and I love the fact that those kids don't back down from anything.”Friday, O’Connor wrote, “the Royals tended to their business, not what was going on at the scorers’ table. “Last night I thought we did a better job of focusing in on our opponent and not letting the little things distract us, O’Connor continued. “Our guards were embarrassed with their performance on Tuesday, and they came out and set the tempo defensively this time, made big shots, and didn't settle for 3's. It was one of the best team efforts we've had here at Ramstein in my five years, and hopefully we can keep that going.”Allen made it a double-double on Friday with 10 rebounds, along with six assists, All-European Amrine also handed out six assists; Henry chalked up five dishes.Daniel Harris led Wiesbaden (6-1, 4-1) with 14 points. But O’Connor knows his Royals (4-2, 2-1) can’t get complacent about the way things went on Friday.“We will have to be much better the next time we face this team at Europeans, though,” he concluded, “because we did get lucky with them missing a ton of easy shots that they normally make, and we put them on the line too many times.”Next up for Ramstein is a Friday game at Bitburg. Wiesbaden is ticketed for non-regional, Friday-Saturday games at Vilseck.

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