Heidelberg’s Terrance Flemons, left, steps in front of Kaiserslautern’s Larry Bailey to grab a rebound during the men's final in the U.S. Army Europe Basketball Championships in Würzburg, Germany, on Sunday. (Raymond T. Conway / S&S)
Heidelberg’s Terrance Flemons, left, steps in front of Kaiserslautern’s Larry Bailey to grab a rebound during the men's final in the U.S. Army Europe Basketball Championships in Würzburg, Germany, on Sunday. (Raymond T. Conway / S&S)
Kaiserslautern's Tony Jackson, center, puts up a shot between Heidelberg's Ellis Nickson, left, and Danny Jones during Sunday's Army-Europe men's final. (Raymond T. Conway / S&S)
Kaiserslautern's Larry Bailey, right, drives the baseline as Heidelberg's Craig Marcelin gives chase. (Raymond T. Conway / S&S)
WüRZBURG, Germany — Andre Barnes and Al Elliott each hit free throws in the final six seconds Sunday to give the Heidelberg Generals their third straight Army-Europe basketball championship with a 73-71 victory over the Kaiserslautern Panthers.
But two Army-Europe basketball veterans who were determined not to let their teams lose, Kaiserslautern’s Vincent Williams and Heidelberg’s Craig Marcelin, packed a couple of decades of excitement into the final moments of this showdown.
Only Marcelin was successful. He scored 13 points, six of them in the final 10 minutes. But he made his most valuable contribution in the last two minutes.
With his team’s 12-point halftime lead down to three points in the final 3:32, Marcelin dashed across the floor to make successive rebounds of missed Heidelberg shots to buy his team three possessions that consumed more than 90 seconds.
“It’s all about being hungry for victory,” said Marcelin, a multiple veteran of All-Army and Armed Forces teams. “You’ve gotta leave it all on the floor.”
Williams, who’s been a mainstay of European basketball since 1992, left as much on the floor as Marcelin, who might have had a bigger appetite for victory.
Williams scored 34 points, including four second-half three-pointers that tied the game at 71 with 10 seconds to play.
His heroics were undone, however, when K-town’s Alvin Johnson fouled Barnes as the Generals were setting up for a game-winning shot with 6.6 seconds left. Barnes, who came off the bench to score 11 points, made his first free throw, but bounced the second off the rim to give K-town apparent life.
Heidelberg’s Terrance Flemons, however, darted across the lane to grab another big offensive rebound for Heidelberg. Flemons, falling to the floor, got the ball to Elliott, who was fouled with 2.7 seconds left. It was Flemons' 13th rebound of the contest and his fourth offensive rebound of the final 10 minutes. Flemons also led Heidelberg in scoring with 19 points.
“We had to battle,” said Heidelberg’s other inside presence, Kenyatta Mack, of Heidelberg’s decisive rebounding effort. “They were all over the place. They were sending five men to the glass on every shot. At halftime, I told Flemons that if we didn't get busy they were going to run over us.”
Elliott, who scored 18 points, missed his first shot, but sank the second, and then ended K-town’s shot by leaping high to intercept a pass. His effort denied Williams a chance at yet another miracle.
“He’s a great player,” Barnes said of Williams. “He did everything for his team that he could do.”
And then some. Williams scored 31 of his team’s final 41 points, including consecutive treys in the final 40 seconds that forged the 71-71 tie.
