HEIDELBERG, Germany — Saturday’s game between Division I defending champ Heidelberg and Division II king Baumholder might seem like a great way to highlight the first weekend of the DODDS-Europe basketball season.
Officially, though, Heidelberg’s 62-46 victory didn’t exist. Since it wasn’t on the official schedule, it was merely an exhibition game, arranged by Heidelberg coach Brad Shahan and Baumholder’s Spencer Bean.
No reason to get excited, then, right?
None at all, unless you happened to be on the Baumholder bench.
“I was giddy for the first three quarters,” Bean said after his team, which led 24-21 at halftime and trailed just 40-39 after three quarters, finally succumbed to Heidelberg’s relentless pressure defense. “We were right up there with them.”
Bean’s excitement is partially explained by the composition of his new team, which this season is chasing a D-III title. Just two players from last year’s champs are back for this campaign.
“La Cross Gray (eight points) and Florian Thomas (two points) played for me last year,” Bean said. “Everyone else is new.”
Including transfer Rico Rawls, who proved to be an intense inside force, and Christian Fuller, who was 2-for-2 from behind the three-point arc on a 12-point afternoon. Both players, however, weren’t around much when the game was decided because of fouls.
“The early fouls hurt a lot,” Bean said. “I told them before the game, ‘You two, don’t into foul trouble.’ But they did.”
Bean, who got a team-high 13 points from Artrell Davis, also cited his team’s fatigue as making the difference in the decisive fourth quarter. Heidelberg opened the frame with a 13-2 run.
“We were tired and made too many unforced turnovers,” he said. “Heidelberg is very disciplined. I don’t think they made any.”
Also making a difference was Heidelberg center Shali Thompson, a 6-5, 290-pound junior, who came off the bench in the second period and warmed to the task so thoroughly that he had eight offensive rebounds and six of his nine points in the final eight minutes.
Most of those rebounds either went back in the basket, or led to open looks for Ryan Rohren, who scored eight of his game-high 18 points in the last quarter.
“I just played my game,” Thompson said. “I just did what the coaches told me to do.”
Both teams will open their official seasons this week. Heidelberg hosts Mannheim on Tuesday in a Region III game; Baumholder as at home against Ramstein in a Region II clash that night.
In Saturday’s official games:
Alconbury girls 28, ACS-Hillingdon 23: At Alconbury, England, Caiti Stewart scored 18 points and grabbed 13 rebounds as the Lady Dragons topped their victory total from last season, when they failed to win a game.
Aviano girls 56-53, BFA 34-44: At Aviano, Italy, newcomer Alyssa Lane scored 23 points on Friday and 35 more on Saturday against Black Forest Academy. She also snared 22 rebounds Saturday.
Aviano boys 71-67, BFA 39-37: At Aviano, All-Europe guard Andre Dean scored 29 points on Friday and had 19 points and eight assists on Saturday as the Saints rolled to a pair of victories.
ScoreboardBasketball
Girls
Alconbury 28, ACS-Hillingdon 23(Non-regional game Saturday at Alconbury)Amer. Cmty Schl.-Hillingdon..........8 2 3 10—23Alconbury..........7 6 5 10—28Top scorers—ACS-Hillingdon: Unavailable; Alconbury: Caiti Stewart 18, Caitlin Cloum 3.Noteworthy—According to coach Mark Dix, the win, behind 13 rebounds by Stewart and 5 steals each from Stewart, Cloum and Corinna DeWitt, was Lady Dragons’ first in more than a year.Aviano 56, Black Forest Academy 34(Non-regional game Friday at Aviano)Black Forest Academy..........10 2 12 10—34Aviano..........14 17 13 12—56Top scorers—Black Forest Academy: Ginny Holladay 13, Joanna Kelly 7; Aviano: Alyssa Lane 23, Emily Cartwright 15.Noteworthy—Lane had 8 rebounds, 7 steals and 3 assists, according to coach Greg Mead, whose team got 7 rebounds from Cartwright. BFA got 12 rebounds from Holladay and 7 from Kelly.JV—Aviano 20, BFA 10.Aviano 53, Black Forest Academy 44(Non-regional game Saturday at Aviano)Black Forest Academy..........3 14 16 11-44Aviano..........14 15 11 13-53Top scorers—Black Forest Academy: Mulby Holladay 11; Aviano: Lane 35, Cartwright 6.Noteworthy—Lane had 22 rebounds and 3 assists, according to Mead, who said Cartwright added 13 rebounds in a game in which BFA took the lead briefly in the fourth quarter. Ginny Holladay had 12 rebounds for BFA.JV—Aviano 18, BFA 15.BoysAviano 71, Black Forest Academy 39(Non-regional game Friday at Aviano)Black Forest Academy..........10 11 11 7—39Aviano..........14 24 13 20—71Top scorers—Black Forest Academy: Eddie Mbanda 21, Joel Wettstone 8; Aviano: Andre Dean 29, Jon Anderson 13, Andy Kretz 10Noteworthy—According to Aviano coach Ken McNeely, Dean and Sean Outing each had 6 steals for Aviano, and their teammate Jamal Tuck had 5 steals.JV—Aviano 39, BFA 29.Aviano 67, Black Forest Academy 37(Non-regional game Saturday at Aviano)Black Forest Academy..........13 8 8 8—37Aviano..........17 15 18 17—67Top scorers—Black Forest Academy: Mbanda 23; Aviano: Dean 19, Tuck 14, Anderson 12.Noteworthy—Aviano got 8 assists from Dean and 5 steals each from Outing and Tuck, McNeely reported.Marksmanship(Team scoring is total of top 5 scorers; highest possible team score is 1,500)Central Conference(Saturday at Patch)Team scoring—Patch 1,388; Ansbach 1,301; Mannheim 1,261; Würzburg 1,213.Top overall scorer—Leah Lynch (Patch) 281 of 300.Top prone—Chastlyn Angelsey (Patch) 98 of 100.Top standing—Lynnise Johnson (Patch) 92 of 100.Top kneeling—Jessica Elledge (Patch) and Lynch, 95 of 100.Northwest Conference(Saturday at Heidelberg)Team scoring—Heidelberg 1,253; Hanau 847; Baumholder 639.Top overall scorer—Lee Hillmon (Heidelberg) 266 of 300.Top prone—Hillmon 96 of 100.Top standing—Caitlin Barrow (Heidelberg) 84 of 100.Top kneeling—Barrow 89 of 100.Southeast Conference(Saturday at Hohenfels)Team scoring—Hohenfels 1,321; Vilseck 1,199; Bamberg 1,095; Vicenza 1,062.Top overall scorer—Sarah Adams (Hohenfels) and Sunny Petery (Hohenfels) 271 of 300.Top prone—Chris Vertz (Vilseck) 96 of 100.Top standing—Adams 87 of 100.Top kneeling—Petery 92 of 100.
