HANAU, Germany — The Hanau Panthers ended their one-month holiday break by sweeping the Vilseck Falcons 43-34 and 55-37 in Division II basketball on Friday and Saturday.
On Friday, Hanau trailed 18-14 at halftime before returning to the defensive pressure and running game which lead to preholiday sweeps of Patch and Black Forest Academy.
“At first, we were breaking down defensively,” Hanau point guard Dave Hendrix said. “Coach [Tim Smith] talked to us and told us to keep focused. We worked on picking up our intensity.”
The advice worked perfectly as the Panthers held Vilseck scoreless for an 8:23 span after halftime. Vilseck star Jonathan Reilly, who played the entire 32 minutes on Friday and pulled down 19 rebounds, was held to seven points in the second half after striking for 12 before intermission.
At the same time, Hanau got its offense going, despite foul troubles which put its inside duo of Marcus Fontanez and Robert Scott on the bench for much of the final going. Fontanez played only 2:43 of the third quarter before picking up his fourth foul and returned with 5:20 left in the game to score five of his 10 points before fouling out. Scott, who scored nine points, managed to avoid fouling out after re-entering the game with Fontanez in the final quarter.
Despite the absence of the big men, Hanau wasn’t worried, said freshman Jeremy Marshall.
“We’re always ready to play,” Marshall said.
The Panthers kept up the pace on Saturday as Hendrix topped all scorers with 15 points.
Heidelberg stays atop Div. I
HEIDELBERG, Germany — With a 56-38 victory over Ramstein, and a 76-63 victory over Wiesbaden, five-time defending European champion Heidelberg remained undefeated (6-0).
In Friday’s game against the Royals, Heidelberg junior pivot Jamal John led all scorers with 20 points and all rebounders with 11. Teammate Tyreke Wesley added 14 points, and Jon Williams had 10 points and 9 rebounds.
In Saturday’s game, John led all scorers with 29 points, adding 13 rebounds, four assists and two steals. Wiesbaden’s Robert Brown led the Warriors with 21 points, getting help from Robert Edwards, who added 14, and Heath Belliveau, who chipped in nine.
Wiesbaden fell to 4-1.
Bitburg, AFNORTH split
BRUNSSUM, Netherlands — AFNORTH slipped past Bitburg Friday night with a 32-29 victory, then fell to the Barons 42-20 the following afternoon.
Zach Martens led AFNORTH (2-2) with 10 points. Teammate Karim Preston added seven points, 11 rebounds and five blocks. Anthony Fornicola had 12 points and 5 rebounds to lead Bitburg.
In Saturday’s game, Trey Wilson led Bitburg (2-2) with 12 points.
Naples still one behind Aviano
The Naples Wildcats and Aviano Saints each claimed a pair of mercy-rule road victories Friday and Saturday.
Naples, behind the scoring of Rashawn Lynch, Aniel Pablico and Mark Pearyer, led the Wildcats to 59-19 and 62-22 victories at Livorno. Naples improved to 5-1, a game behind unbeaten Aviano (6-0) in the ASIL standings.
Aviano defeated Milan 45-4 and 48-7 on Friday and Saturday, respectively.
— Staff writer Alex Steele contributed to this report.
