Sigonella's Bobby Lazenby, right, tries to draw a charge by Rota's Caleb Arnold, but gets called for a foul in Rota's 56-40 victory in the DODDS-Europe Division III boys basketball final in Mannheim, Germany, on Saturday. (Michael Abrams / S&S)
MANNHEIM, Germany — People have been saying all season that there’s more to Rota than All-Europe sophomore wing Tre’von Owens. Saturday, the Admirals proved it by throttling defending small schools champion Sigonella 56-40 in the championship game of the DODDS-Europe Division III boys basketball tournament.
Owens, voted tournament MVP in spite of playing less than half the game, was whistled for two fouls in the first two minutes, making himself eligible for only part-time duty the rest of the way.
Big deal, was Rota’s response.
“I was a little bit worried,” said all-tourney guard Dale Parker about losing Owens’ full-time services so early in the game, “but I knew we have a whole team.”
Parker was a big part of the whole. He scored 13 points, including a dagger of a three-pointer that just beat the third-quarter buzzer and put the Admirals up 41-26.
Rota coach Ben Anderson said he had Owens playing “in offensive situations and coming out in defensive situations.” Owens responded with a game-high 17 points, 10 of those after halftime.
Owens said that while he was disappointed about limiting his playing time, he never feared for his team’s chances.
“I knew our team would pick me up,” he said. “This team is a lot more than just me.”
Owens and his fellow Admirals had a special joy in winning this game, which reversed the outcome of last year’s Division IV final, won 55-43 by Sigonella.
“They took our trophy last year,” said Parker. “We wanted to get it away from them.”
Sigonella, which got a team-high 10 points from Tyron Andrews, battled, but fell out of realistic contention early. The Jaguars trailed 27-14 when the halftime buzzer ended a 14-6 second-quarter Rota run in which Owens had no scoring hand.
Sigonella “played hard,” said burly Rota center Tim Drake, who found himself the middle a James Campbell-Andrews sandwich every time a shot didn’t fall.
Each Jaguar grabbed nine rebounds; Drake came down with eight. He also scored 11 points.
Just four of those points came after halftime, when Sigonella was unable to cut the gap to fewer 10 points.
It was all over except for the bling.
“What’s next?” Parker answered when asked where he goes from here. “I’m going out and buying a championship ring.”