Manila, (Asian independent) Germany edged Latvia 81-79 to reach the semifinals of the 2023 FIBA World Cup here on Wednesday.
Franz Wagner showed off his toolkit in the game, scoring 16 points to lead Germany’s boxscore. The 22-year-old guard, who missed Germany’s last four group games due to injury, also grabbed eight rebounds and dished out three assists, reports Xinhua.
Starting guard Dennis Schroder, who spearheaded Germany to five straight wins in the group stage, missed all of his nine attempts in the first half and finished with nine points.
Schroder made his first shot with 7:40 left on the clock in the third quarter, and the Toronto Raptors guard soon came back assisting Daniel Theis for an alley-oop. But it was not enough to make a U-turn in Schroder’s game as he only made a dismal four out of 26 attempts.
Arturs Zagars scored a game-high 24 points and had eight assists for Latvia. He pulled off a number of crazy left-handed finishes through drives to make it 81-79 with just over 30 seconds to play.
Davis Bertans went up for the game-winning three-pointer, but it bounced off the rim, went out of bounds as time expired. The 208cm forward had an amazing game, tallying 20 points including six 3-pointers. Many catch-and-shoots behind the arc were designated for Bertans, and the Oklahoma City Thunder forward made quite a few from the NBA range.
Germany will face off against the United States in the semifinals on Friday, while Latvia plays the 5th-8th classification game against Italy on Thursday.
