Germany finished their EuroBasket campaign on a high as they defeated Poland 82-68 in Berlin on Sunday afternoon.
The win seals a deserved third place finish for the co-hosts, a first medal for Germany at EuroBasket since 2005 when they were runners-up to Greece.
Poland, however, ran out of steam in their final two games as they were unable to back up their historic upset victory over Slovenia in the quarter-finals and end a 55-year wait for a top-three finish in the tournament where they will be co-hosts in 2025.
It was just a one-point game past the midpoint of the second as Germany went almost five minutes without scoring before putting together a 13-0 run capped by triples from Andreas Obst, Daniel Theis and Dennis Schroder to lead 34-20.
Poland clawed back the deficit to tie the game at 59-59 in the fourth, but Johannes Voigtmann sparked a decisive 11-3 burst with back-to-back threes.
Schroder hit two big threes in the fourth also to contribute a game-high 26 points along with six assists in the win, while Michal Sokolowski top scored for Poland with 18 points.
Voigtmann was doing a little bit of everything in the first half for Germany before stepping up at a crucial time in the fourth in scoring with big shots from outside – finishing with 14 points, 9 rebounds, 6 assists, 2 steals and 2 blocks in an all-round display.
FIBA contributed to this report – Photo: FIBA.
