By REYNALD MAGALLON
Germany hung on and pulled off a nail-biting 81-79 escape against Latvia to keep its record unblemished and set up a semifinals collision against Team USA in the 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup at the Mall of Asia Arena on Wednesday, Sept. 6.
The Die Mannschaft survived a tough outing from NBA star Dennis Schroder and a last gasp three-pointer from Davis Bertans to become the only team still spotless through six games in the global showpiece.
Schroder, who missed his first 12 attempts in the contest, had the chance to put the nail on the coffin against the Latvians but missed a floater with seven seconds left.
Bertans grabbed the rebound and dribbled the length of the floor before going for a three-pointer to try and steal the win from the Germans.
The Oklahoma City Thunder forward, however, seemed to have hurried the shot, missing it with still four seconds left as Germany cleared the rebound and ran the clock down.
The Wagner brothers of Franz and Moritz picked up the scoring for Schroder with 16 and 12 points respectively. Franz also collared eight rebounds and three assists in his only second game in the World Cup after sustaining a left ankle injury.
Schroder wound up with nine points on a 4-of-26 shooting from the field including a 0-of-8 clip from deep.
Artur Zagars finished with 24 points while Bertans added 20 but were not enough as the Latvians failed to sustain a hot start that saw them build an early 16-3 lead.
The loss put an end to what has been a very impressive World Cup run for Latvia which became the lowest ranked team at No. 29 to advance to the knockout stage.
