KAISERSLAUTERN, Germany — Heidelberg’s men and women swept the titles in the 24th annual Kaiserslautern Christmas Tournament on Sunday.
Heidelberg’s Generals defeated Ramstein 70-68 in the final of the men’s event; the Lady Generals turned back Kaiserslautern 66-61 to complete an unbeaten run through the tournament.
Heidelberg men 70, Ramstein 68
Former Schweinfurt star Terrance Flemon disrupted Ramstein’s inbounds play with nine seconds remaining to preserve the victory.
After Heidelberg’s Troy Adams missed the front end of a one-and-one with 12 seconds left, Ramstein’s Germichael Kelley attempted to push the rebound down the floor. But Flemon cut him off in Heidelberg’s end and forced Kelley to call a timeout.
“I told the team I didn’t want Ramstein to be inbounding the ball towards the basket,” said Heidelberg coach Bobby Seaberry, whose team lost to Ramstein 73-72 in Sunday’s first game. “I wanted them to bring the ball backward, to have to go as many feet as possible.”
To ensure that, Seaberry instructed Flemon, who finished with 13 points eight rebounds, to jump up and down in front of Ramstein veteran Kenny Bean. Bean was forced to pass the ball in to Robert Batite in the Heidelberg forecourt, and the Generals cut him off as he dribbled toward the Ramstein end. With time running out, Batiste passed wide to Pete Lenoir, whose off-balance desperation shot from nearly midcourt fell wide and short.
Adams led Heidelberg with 18 points, half of them on three-pointers. Adams scored a field goal and free throw in the final 2:30 for the decisive margin; Andre Barnes, who earlier had coached the Lady Generals to their title, added the 70th point on one of two free throws.
Craig Marcelin, the Armed Forces team mainstay who had scored 19 points in Heidelberg’s 78-70 victory over Ramstein in Saturday’s winners-bracket final, added 10 points for Heidelberg. Kenyatta Mack had 14 points, nine rebounds and a blocked shot for the Generals.
Austin Layton led the Rams with 18 points. Ramstein got 13 from Larry Sengal, 12 from Batiste and 11 from Troy Miles. But the Rams managed to sink only two field goals in the last 6:11 of the game.
“I told the team that if this game was close, there was no way Ramstein was going to get the ball at the end,” Seaberry said.
Heidelberg lost to Ramstein in last season’s U.S. Forces Europe title game.
Heidelberg women 66, Kaiserslautern 61
the Lady Generals were playing without leading scorer and rebounder Tiffany Collins, who averaged 19 points in Heidelberg’s previous two victories here but was playing with her German league team on Sunday, but the Lady Generals got 17 points each from Nina Beamon and Tina Barnes to take up the slack.
“Everyone pulled together and played together,” Barnes said of his team, which also was missing veteran scoring threat Rhonda Williams because of injury. “We believed in one another, and that’s a big deal.”
