Ramstein, behind fourth-quarter scoring from seniors Evan Canfield and Brent Schuck, downed two-time defending European Division I champion Heidelberg 66-59 Friday night at Ramstein.

The Royals reversed the outcome of last February’s title game, won 49-45 by the Lions, with a fourth quarter of tight defense and the shooting of Canfield and Shuck.

"It was a hard-fought battle that could have gone either way," first-year Ramstein coach Andrew O’Connor wrote in an e-mail Saturday.

"The Royals turned up the defensive pressure in the fourth quarter behind Michael Wallace, Andre Porterfield and Dvonne Daniels. ... Canfield and Schuck made several clutch shots in the fourth quarter, combining for 16 of the team’s 19 fourth-quarter points."

Canfield took game scoring honors with 19 points. Schuck and Dillon Wadsack each scored 17.

Chris Frazier, who scored 28 points against Ramstein in the ’08 title game, led all Lions’ scorers this time with 12. Malcolm Wilson added 11 points and All-Europe center J.C. Sharer grabbed eight rebounds for Heidelberg.

"There is no other team we wanted to open our season against," O’Connor wrote. "They are well-coached and have great players. It was a good test for us, but we still have a lot of work to do."

In other boys games of note on Friday and Saturday:

Kaiserslautern 63-60, Vilseck 61-59: At Vilseck, the Falcons, just as they did in football, showed they’d be a factor in their initial D-I campaign even though they dropped a pair of close games.

On Friday, Kaiserslautern, which got 19 points from Edrick Scarvers and 12 from Taveron Smith, jumped out to a 19-10 first-quarter lead before Vilseck rebounded to go up 31-29 at halftime. The Red Raiders outscored the home team 21-13 in the third quarter and then held on for the victory.

On Saturday, K-town fell behind 22-10 after one period but rallied behind 17 points by Kevin Stem and prevailed when a Vilseck 17-footer missed at the buzzer, according to Vilseck coach Rick Ritter.

Vilseck’s Aaron Ware took game scoring honors with 22 points.

Patch 60, Wiesbaden 49: At Wiesbaden, the Panthers got 20 points, six assists and three steals from Eric Jones on Friday to throw their hats into what appears to be a wide-open D-I race.

Justin Phelps scored 14 points for Patch, which got 10 points and 11 rebounds from Julius Johnson-Rich. Kiante Clifton led D-II Wiesbaden with 18 points.

Baumholder 70, Hohenfels 45: At Hohenfels, junior All-European Artrell Davis scored 21 points and teammate Christian Fuller had 17 points, 14 rebounds, seven steals and three blocks Friday to establish the Bucs’ credentials as the team to beat in Division III.

Baumholder, which dropped a 44-42 verdict to Bamberg in last season’s D-III title game, got 13 points each from Rodney Robinson and Andrew Battle in beating a D-III rival. Bamberg is in Division II this year.

Hohenfels’ Justin Battley led all scorers with 24 points.

Aviano 51-51, Marymount 4-11: At Aviano, the Saints’ starters played less than a period total in a pair of 40-point, courtesy-rule romps.

Josh Nunez led Aviano’s scoring with 15 in Friday’s game, which wrapped up at halftime; Jamal Tuck took game scoring honors with 12 in Saturday’s game, which ended with 6:08 to play in the third period.

Ansbach 61-54, Black Forest Academy 30-46: At Kandern, Germany, 6-foot-9 Sam Freeman chalked up 23 points Friday and 32 points and 18 rebounds Saturday as the Cougars took aim at a D-II title to go with the one they won in football.

Ansbach’s Markus Allen added 17 points on Friday and Kevin Stadler grabbed 14 rebounds on Saturday.

Migrated