Devin Jackson scored 23 points and Eugene Jones 19 Saturday as Heidelberg salvaged a home-and-home split against Region III and Division I rival Patch with a 69-63 victory.

Lucas Clarke added 10 points for Heidelberg, which avenged a last-second 62-61 loss on Patch’s floor Friday night.

Heidelberg’s victory left each team with one loss overall and in Region III and came despite 26 points from Patch’s Julius Johnson-Rich.

The cliché “down to the wire” took on a precise meaning Friday night when Patch’s one-point victory was forged in the game’s final eight-tenths of a second.

According to Patch assistant Shawn Phillips, Heidelberg led 61-60 when the clock stopped with 0.8 seconds left after Heidelberg’s Jones and Patch’s John Gonzalez tied each other up on a rebound of a missed Johnson-Rich putback try. Heidelberg was awarded the ball on the possession arrow, but committed a technical foul by calling a timeout the officials said the Lions didn’t have.

Justin Phelps, who scored 16 points on the evening, went to the line for Patch and tied the game at 61 on his first foul shot. The second bounced off the front of the rim.

Patch then inbounded at midcourt. Phelps tossed an alley-oop pass to Johnson-Rich, whom the officials ruled was fouled by Jones as time expired. Johnson-Rich, who had a game-high 25 points, missed his first try but rattled home his second for the game-winning point.

The foul by Jones, who led the Lions with 19 points, was the third whistled on Heidelberg in the game’s final 30 seconds. With Heidelberg leading 59-56 with 27 seconds left, Phelps drew a foul on a three-point try. He sank two of three free throws to bring Patch to within 59-58.

Heidelberg then inbounded the ball, and Patch was forced to foul Heidelberg’s Lucas Clarke with 19 seconds left. Clark sank two shots to make it 61-58, but with 10 seconds left, Heidelberg fouled Johnson-Rich as he drove the lane, and Patch’s star cut the gap to 61-60 by canning his two foul shots. Phelps tied up Clark on the ensuing inbounds play, and Patch took over on the possession arrow with eight seconds to go to set up the last-second excitement.

In other boys games of note:

Aviano 80, Sigonella 56: Saturday at Aviano, Italy, the Saints, behind 33 points, 12 rebounds, eight assists and six steals from All-Europe guard Jamal Tuck and a game-high 14 rebounds from Shaheed Seaton, retained their stranglehold on the Region IV race.

Combined with Friday’s 83-57 victory over their guests from Sicily, the Saints improved to 8-0 overall and in regional play. Every other team in the region has lost at least twice. Sigonella is 5-3.

Ramstein 82, Baumholder 47: Friday at Ramstein, All-Europe multisports start Michael Wallace scored 12 points, pulled down nine rebounds and made five steals to lift the Royals to a 5-1 overall record and 4-0 Region II mark as Ramstein completed a regular-season sweep of the Bucs. Ramstein prevailed in Baumholder on Wednesday 67-22. The twin killing dropped Baumholder to 2-6, 1-3.

Bitburg 56, Black Forest Academy 53: Saturday at Kandern, Germany, Cameron Jackson scored a game-high 15 points as the Barons held off their hosts to post a sweep. Jackson also took game scoring honors on Firday when he scored 23 points in Bitburg’s 71-62 victory.

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