Marymount's Hiyab Haile and Vicenza's Simon Gilbert watch the ball sail out of bounds Thursday, Feb. 13, 2025, at the DODEA-Europe Division II boys basketball championships in Wiesbaden, Germany. (Kent Harris/Stars and Stripes)

WIESBADEN, Germany – With berths in Friday’s semifinals at stake, the intensity level in DODEA-Europe’s Division II boys and girls basketball tournaments seemed to go up a notch Thursday morning.

Or maybe a couple notches in some cases.

The winners of the first four contests at Wiesbaden High school could guarantee themselves a semifinal spot in most cases, though a loss was devastating to one team.

So three of the four went down to the final seconds.

Then there was defending champion and heavy boys favorite Vicenza, which apparently wanted nothing of that kind of drama. The Cougars romped past Marymount 75-38. That wrapped up a perfect 3-0 run for Vicenza.

In the first game of the day, Aviano’s boys defeated Naples 69-61 to go 3-0 in their pool.

The two girls games had upsets brewing until almost the end. The higher seeds emerged triumphant, though, as American Overseas School of Rome topped Aviano 30-24 and Vicenza downed Black Forest Academy 35-30.

Aviano's Jazmyn Warren is sandwiched between American Overseas School of Rome's Leah Rink, left, and Nina Neroni on Thursday, Feb. 13, 2025, in Wiesbaden, Germany. (Kent Harris/Stars and Stripes)

American Overseas School of Rome's Keira Burke puts up a shot Thursday, Feb. 13, 2025, at the DODEA-Europe Division II boys basketball championships in Wiesbaden, Germany. (Kent Harris/Stars and Stripes)

Aviano's Nevaeh Zamora tries to score Thursday, Feb. 13, 2025, at the DODEA-Europe Division II girls basketball championships in Wiesbaden, Germany. (Kent Harris/Stars and Stripes)

American Overseas School of Rome's Nina Neroni comes to an stop in front of Aviano's Jazmyn Warren on Thursday, Feb. 13, 2025, inthe DODEA-Europe Division II girls basketball championships in Wiesbaden, Germany. (Kent Harris/Stars and Stripes)

Aviano’s Aubrey Cannon goes up for a layup Thursday, Feb.13, 2025, at the DODEA-Europe Division II girls basketball championships in Wiesbaden, Germany. (Kent Harris/Stars and Stripes)

Boys

Naples and Aviano didn’t play during the regular season – the first time in more than 50 years – pandemic excepted – that that’s been the case.

Aviano coach Keith Adams said it seems like it’s been that long since the Saints have beaten the Wildcats in the championships.

“We’ve beaten them in the regular season, but not here since I’ve been here,” he said. “So the goal was to win the pool. And I wanted to beat Naples.”

Aviano looked like it was well on the way to doing that through the first half. Nash Stoner scored 19 of his game-high 27 points as the Saints led 37-28 at halftime. Naples managed to stay that close thanks to five three-point field goals – four from Jeramiah Robinson.

Then disaster struck. At least from the Aviano perspective. The Saints, who imploded during last season’s championships, looked like they were going to do it again in a third quarter that the Wildcats won 22-8. Naples’ run was fueled by an array of Aviano miscues, including a failure to properly inbound the ball twice (three times during the entire game).

“We’re just not good in the third quarter for some reason,” Adams said. “That’s obviously got to change if we want to go further in this tournament.”

Aviano rallied to tie the game at 52-52, then Bryson’ Russell’s three-point play after an offensive rebound put the Saints up good.

Naples’ hot perimeter shooting from earlier cooled off as multiple attempts rimmed in and out.

“I think maybe our legs were just tired,” Wildcats coach Craig Lord said.

Andrew Walker had 15 points for Aviano and Deon Walker added 12. Robinson had 21 to lead Naples and Jettyn Jones added 16.

The victory meant that Aviano avoided playing Vicenza in the semifinals and will instead take on Marymount. Naples will face the Cougars.

Those Cougars gradually but steadily pulled away from the Royals in their contest. It was 50-24 late in the third before coach Jesse Woods told his starters to stay on the bench for good. Before that, Ben Harlow totaled 15 points and Simon Gilbert 12.

Aviano's Alando Brown blocks Naples' Jeramiah Robinson's shot Thursday, Feb. 13, 2025, at the DODEA-Europe Division II boys basketball championships in Wiesbaden, Germany. (Kent Harris/Stars and Stripes)

Aviano’s Deon Walker finds himself in a sea of Naples defenders Thursday, Feb. 12, 2025, at the DODEA-Europe Division II boys basketball championships in Wiesbaden, Germany. (Kent Harris/Stars and Stripes)

Naples' Camden Kasparek takes a shot Thurday, Feb. 13, 2025, at the DODEA-Europe Division II boys basketball championships in Wiesbaden, Germany. (Kent Harris/Stars and Stripes)

Aviano’s Nash Stoner goes up for a shot before Naples’ Jettyn Jones can reach him Thursday, Feb. 13, 2025, at the DODEA-Europe Division III boys basketball championships in Wiesbaden, Germany. (Kent Harris/Stars and Stripes)

Naples' Ethan Santamaria scores from close range Thursday, Feb. 13, 2025, at the DODEA-Europe Division II boys basketball championships in Wiesbaden, Germany. (Kent Harris/Stars and Stripes)

Aviano's Andrew Walker goes up for a shot Thursday, Feb.13, 2025, at the DODEA-Europe Division II boys basketball championships in Wiesbaden, Germany. (Kent Harris/Stars and Stripes)

Naples' Jeramiah Robinson, who connected on fourthree-pointers in the opening half, takes a shot from long-distance Thursday, Feb. 13, 2025, at the DODEA-Europe Division II boys basketball championships in Wiesbaden, Germany. (Kent Harris/Stars and Stripes)

Girls

In order for the Saints girls to join the boys in advancing, they had to hand top seed AOSR its first loss of the season.

For much of the contest, that looked like a distinct possibility. Aviano led 12-2 after a quarter and never trailed into the final period.

The Saints still led 24-21 when star sophomore Aubrey Cannon drew her fifth foul with 5 minutes, 19 seconds left.

Aviano would not score again.

The Falcons’ Nina Neroni, her team’s only inside presence with returning all-tournament selection Natalia DiMatteo out with a broken ankle, was suddenly everywhere, coming up with a series of steals and tenaciously fighting for every loose ball. Or sometimes joining her teammates in grabbing balls that were distinctly not loose out of Saints’ hands.

“Today was one of our worst games,” Neroni said.

“We’ve had a lot of distractions since we’ve been here,” coach Lillian Allred said.

“These are little things, but to win, you have to do them,” Neroni said. “You have to work hard, even if you’re undefeated and want to win the championship.”

Another team that has championship aspirations is Vicenza.

But the fast-paced Cougars looked like that vision was a mirage early against Black Forest.

The Falcons deserved much of that credit, frustrating Vicenza’s top scorer Jenina Smith with a box-and-one defense. BFA was up 18-5 at one point in the first quarter.

“When a team sees you once or twice, that can happen,” Cougars coach John Kohut said. “So I told her, she would just have to run around faster if she wanted the ball.”

The Falcons strategy eventually stopped working, though. Smith finished with only eight points. But BFA’s top defenders, Madi Williford and Esther Maples, both fouled out. Similar to the earlier girls game, the Falcons didn’t score again after Williford left the game with 4:32 to play.

Friday’s girls semifinals will see BFA take on AOSR and Vicenza face off against Rota.

Marymount's Gael Grant Rios tries to score before Vicenza's Ben Harlow can get there Thursday, Feb. 13, 2025, at the DODEA-Europe Division II boys basketball championships in Wiesbaden, Germany. (Kent Harris/Stars and Stripes)

Black Forest Academy's Madi Williford drives to the basket Thursday, Feb. 13, 2025, at the DODEA-Europe Division II boys basketball championships in Wiesbaden, Germany. (Kent Harris/Stars and Stripes)

Black Forest Academy’s Madi Williford tries to disrupt a pass from Vicenza’s Emily Vallejo-Rodriguez on Thursday, Feb. 13, 2025, at the DODEA-Europe Division II girls basketball championships in Wiesbaden, Germany. (Kent Harris/Stars and Stripes)

Vicenza's Yareli Telles gets set to block a shot from Black Forest Academy's Eden Dowdy on Thursday, Feb. 13, 2025, at the DODEA-Europe Division II girls basketball championships in Wiesbaden, Germany. (Kent Harris/Stars and Stripes)

Black Forest Academy's Eden Dowdy and Vicenza's Lexie Pollard battle for the ball Thursday, Feb.13, 2025, at the DODEA-Europe Division II girls basketball championships in Wiesbaden, Germany. (Kent Harris/Stars and Stripes)

Vicenza's Yareli Telles puts up a shot Thursday, Feb. 13, 2025, at the DODEA-Europe Division II girls basketball championships in Wiesbaden, Germany. (Kent Harris/Stars and Stripes)