On Wednesday, Germany interrupted Latvia’s unbeaten streak at the Basketball World Cup with a tight 81-79 victory to advance to the semifinals and play the United States.
On its journey to the quarterfinals, rookie Latvia defeated both France and the silver medalist from the Tokyo Olympics before defeating the defending champion Spain. The Americans will now be the opponents on Friday after unbeaten Germany stopped it in its tracks with a valiant victory in Manila.
After just five minutes, Latvia surged out to a 10-point lead, but Germany closed the gap and led by two at the break. The advantage changed hands frequently, but gradually Germany started to assert itself, and it just about hung on.
With 16 points, Franz Wagner led all scorers for Germany, followed by Andreas Obst (13) and Moritz Wagner (12). However, playmaker Dennis Schroder had a terrible day, making just four of his 26 field goals.
Latvia’s leading scorer was Arturs Zagars, who finished with 24 points, followed by Davis Bertans, who finished with 20, including six three-pointers. Due to its defeat, Latvia was no longer in the running for one of the two spots in the Paris Olympics that were open to European countries in the World Cup. Slovenia takes on Canada in the second quarterfinal of the day with a semifinal meeting versus Serbia on the line.