HAMBURG (FIBA U17 World Championship) – Australia came away with a 62:58 win, but held their breath, as hosts Germany almost overhauled a huge deficit cutting the gap to two points in the last minute of play.

The story of the first quarter was one of two teams trying to find their rhythm. It took them a good five minutes before Australia got going (7-7, 5min). Things went into the Oceania Champions' favor, as Germany had to re-arrange its defense switching to zone early on. The WC hosts had as many as 15 turnovers in the first half, eight of them being stolen by opposing players. In spite of Jakob Krumbeck's trey cutting back the deficit to single digits midway through the second quarter (27-20, 17min), Australia closed the period with an impressive 8-0 (35:20, 20min).

Germany fell further behind in the third quarter, before coach Frank Menz decided to run a full court press. It worked out, as the hosts got defensive stops and numerous possessions to begin erasing the deficit. Jakob Krumbeck hit an open three pointer, followed by a running floater by Bogdan Radosavljevic (48-40, 34min). That got the crowd fired up, but Australian guard Daniel Hill took matters into his own hands hitting a huge trey to reinstate a solid lead (55-41, 37min). Germany came as close as within two points, but Hill and co were cold-headed from the free thow line in the final two minutes.

Quotes:

Frank Menz, Germany head coach: "Congratulations to Australia, they played a very good 1st half, as we did in the second. I was proud of my team in the second half again. I think we were unable to get yesterday's game out of our head. But I think the confidence is back ahead of tomorrow's game."

Guy Molloy, Australia head coach: "Germany had two very good wins so far. They came back at us and we were lucky to hang on with the momentum against us. There are some things we need to figure out, but I can say that I am proud of our team"

FIBA / JB