Ramstein wins USAFE championship
Advances to European Final Four

***image1***The Ramstein men’s varsity basketball team cruised through the U.S. Air Forces in Europe Basketball Championships, producing a 6-0 record and two All-Tournament All-Stars along the way.

Ramstein took the championship with a 88-64 win over Lakenheath March 23. The game was close at halftime with a score of 38-33. Ramstein started the second half with 15 straight points and it was never a contest after that.

The USAFE Championships are a six-team round robin tournament that contains teams from Air Force bases in USAFE. The top two teams from the men’s and women’s tournaments will move on to the European Forces Final Four. The Final Four consists of the two best USAFE teams and the two best U.S. Army in Europe teams.

Ramstein kicked the tournament off March 19 with a 87-75 victory over Lakenheath. The game was close down the stretch, but 30 points by Troy Myles and 9 of 12 free throws down the stretch propelled Ramstein.

Ramstein came out firing in their second game, a 71-46 blowout of Mildenhall. Ramstein opened the game with a 19-2 run and never looked back.

Ramstein edged Aviano 67-64 in their third game. Aviano led most of the second half, but Ramstein took the lead with two minutes remaining and held on for the win.

The fourth game for Ramstein was no contest. Facing off against the 0-5 Incirlik Nomads, Ramstein dominated from the get go and won handily 106-67. Tory Myles paces Ramstein with 24 points and Austin Layton followed with 21.

Ramstein’s final game of pool play was a 60-45 victory over Spangdahlem. Ramstein made 22 free throws in the game.

The Ramstein women’s team came up just short in their bid for the women’s USAFE championship, losing 64-58 to Mildenhall. Ramstein blew a 32-21 halftime lead and allowed Mildenhall to fight back for the win.

Mildenhall and Ramstein both will advance to the women’s Final Four to face the best USAREUR women’s teams.

After the championship games the All-Tournament All-Star teams were announced.
The mens All-Star team consisted of Troy Myles and Austin Layton (Ramstein), Robert Gray and Charles Hill (Aviano), Charles Flannagan (Lakenheath), Robert Harris and DeAngelis Bright (Spangdahlem), Reggie Minton and Felton Scott (Mildenhall) and Dwayne Adams (Incirlik).

The women’s All-Star team was Lakyshia Fullwood, Nicole Howard and Lanika Freeman (Ramstein), Jerri Fears, Devin Mims, Bree Griffiths and Alexius Knight (Mildenhall), Nicole Bowman and Kim Cabelka (Aviano) and Kristin James (Spangdahlem).