Heidelberg tops Patch to stay perfect
STUTTGART, Germany – The Heidelberg Lions boys basketball team secured the Region III title and remained unbeaten Tuesday by handing Patch its second loss of the season, 52-37.
The defending champion Lions should also hold the No. 1 seed in the DODDS-Europe championships in Wiesbaden next week.
Meanwhile, Patch and Ramstein – second place a year ago - are now tied with two losses this season and will compete for the second and third seeds. Part of that will be determined by Friday’s games as Patch travels to Heidelberg and Ramstein plays Kaiserslautern.
Either way, Heidelberg’s road back to the finals might have gotten a bit easier with Tuesday’s win and Patch’s road just got tougher.
“We made sure we took care of business so could secure the number one seed and also secure the Region III title,” said Ron Merriwether, Heidelberg head coach, whose team improved to 11-0 in the region and 13-0 overall.
Patch, 9-2 and 11-2, had multiple chances to score, but didn’t convert enough throughout much of the game. Heidelberg took advantage, racing out to a 15-2 lead after a quarter and a 26-9 advantage at halftime. The Lions led 46-15 after three quarters before Patch mounted a comeback, but it was much too little.
“When you get behind, you start rushing things and we just got further and further behind,” Patch coach Bill Lassetter said. “Then we just broke down.”
“I haven’t seen one team that doesn’t feel rushed when they go against our defense,” Merriwether said. “It’s on the individual players to understand that you have to find a way to take a shot that you want to take versus a shot that we want you to take.”
Lassetter knew which Heidelberg players should pose the greatest threat to his team and strategized to hold them back. But Kevin Gray broke through with 27 points.
“It was a low-scoring game there, but Gray hit seven three-pointers,” Lassetter said. “We were going to make sure that (Marcel Simon) and (Sam Rosario) were going to be minimized. We did a pretty good job on those guys but, obviously, you’re going to leave somebody open and Gray was just killing us. At halftime we tried to adjust and make sure we were aware of where he was but he just did a great job moving around, getting wide open threes and he hit them.”
Marcel Simon and Wayne Dawkins each added seven points for Heidelberg. Stefon McLean Burrell and Brad Baker led the Panthers with nine and seven points respectively.
Panther girls handed first loss
Tuesday in Heidelberg, Heidelberg's Rebecca Luna, Emma Roberts and Chelsea Shivers offset Patch's Janelle Loney and led the Lions to a 60-56 victory over the Panthers, to move into a first-place tie.
Loney had 40 points, 15 rebounds and 13 steals, but Patch still lost its first game of the season. Luna had a team-high 18 points, while Roberts scored 15 and Shivers 10 for the Lions.
The hosts outscored their visitors 25-17 in the final quarter for the victory. The two teams meet again Friday in Stuttgart with the Division III crown - and possibly the top seed in the DODDS-Europe championships - on the line. Ramstein and Kaiserslautern are also in the mix and also play Friday.
rogersbd@estripes.osd.mil
