Ansbach junior Herivan Figueroa drives for a layup Saturday during the Cougars' 62-52 win over visiting Baumholder. Figueroa scored 14 points, collected 6 rebounds, and had 5 steals in the Cougars' first win of the season. Baumholder won Friday night's game in Ansbach, 79-72. (Dan Blottenberger/Stars and Stripes)
Ansbach junior Herivan Figueroa drives for a layup Saturday during the Cougars' 62-52 win over visiting Baumholder. Figueroa scored 14 points, collected 6 rebounds, and had 5 steals in the Cougars' first win of the season. Baumholder won Friday night's game in Ansbach, 79-72. (Dan Blottenberger/Stars and Stripes)
Ansbach junior Herivan Figueroa looks for an open teammate Saturday during the Cougars' 62-52 win over visiting Baumholder. Figueroa scored 14 points, collected 6 rebounds, and had 5 steals in the Cougars' first win of the season. (Dan Blottenberger/Stars and Stripes)
Junior Derrick Flake of Ansbach takes a shot over a Baumholder defender Saturday during the Cougars' first win of the season against the visiting Bucs, 62-52. Flake led the team in scoring with 35 points. (Dan Blottenberger/Stars and Stripes)
ANSBACH, Germany — The Ansbach Cougars turned up the defense Saturday to slow down Baumholder, pick up their first win of the boys basketball season and earn a weekend split.
Led by Derrick Flake’s 35 points and key free throws by his older brother Darius, Ansbach won, 62-52, Saturday to avenge a 79-72 loss Friday night.
Ansbach got beat down the court again and again for easy buckets on Friday, coach Daniel Smith said after Saturday’s win, but on Saturday “did not allow that to happen and it made it a much more favorable outcome for us.”
“Today we started to play a little bit of defense and that was the big difference,” he said.
Smith said two of his starters are out due to injuries and a lot of the younger players are still learning the system.
“These young guys are getting playing experience and they are starting to do the things that we are asking them to do,” he said.
Darius Flake, who led the Cougars with 30 points on Friday, had only six Saturday, but four of them were foul shots in the final minute. With Ansbach (1-4) up 58-52 and the the clock winding down, Baumholder (2-3) fouled in an attempt to get the ball only to see Flake hit four straight from the foul line.
Baumholder had to play with a substitute coach Saturday because its head coach was not allowed to participate after receiving two technical fouls Friday. And according to one of their coaches, they were “sluggish” after spending the night in the gym.
“Their defense was solid today,” Baumholder coach Spencer Bean said of Ansbach. “I don’t want to make any excuses, but our boys did not sleep well on the gym floor and they did not get a good night’s rest. Today they were walking around and their defense was weak.”
The night before Baumholder was anything but sluggish as it racked up its highest point total of the season. Sophomore forward Alex Johnson led the Bucs with 26 points and had 19 rebounds. On Saturday, three Bucs — Johnson, Tahrell Hills and Antawan Denson — each scored 13 points. Hills also had double figures in rebounds.
Junior Herivan Figueroa had strong games both days for Ansbach, scoring a total of 37 points.
With their first win secured, the Flake brothers have a positive outlook for the rest of the season.
“If we stick together like we did today than we should have no problem the rest of the season,” Derrick Flake said.
