LEIPZIG (FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 European Qualifiers) - Germany went through a roller-coaster of emotions with the end of the ride being a joyous celebration of qualifying for the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019. But their qualification-clinching 112-98 overtime home victory over unlucky Israel was less than satisfying.

Germany went down 23 points in the first half and then were up 7 points with 2:26 minutes left to play. Henrik Rodl’s team then needed a lucky break on an intentionally missed free throw by the visiting team and then perfect execution on an inbounds alley-oop pass for a layup between their NBA stars Dennis Schroder and Maxi Kleber with 0.4 seconds left in regulation to force overtime and eventually get the win.

"With this kind of game, it could have gone in either direction. It was so tight. But there has to be a winner. And we won in the end,” Rodl said. "Of course, everybody was in a great mood. I have very, very rarely experienced this kind of game. We will talk about this game for a long time - the game in Leipzig against Israel."

"WE QUALIFIED FOR THE WORLD CUP AFTER JUST EIGHT GAMES. WHO WOULD HAVE THOUGHT THAT WITH THE GROUP OPPONENTS THAT WE HAVE, THAT WE WOULD BE QUALIFIED ALREADY. IT'S A GREAT ACHIEVEMENT."- Rodl

The win improved Germany’s record to 8-0 in Group L and secured a top-three spot in the group and their sixth appearance at a World Cup - and first in the post-Dirk Nowitzki era after they failed to reach Spain 2014.

"We qualified for the World Cup after just eight games. Who would have thought, with the group opponents that we have, that we would be qualified already. It’s a great achievement," said Rodl, who was part of Germany's biggest World Cup achievement on the bronze medal-winning team in 2002 in Indianapolis. "I'm so happy for the team, but also for the whole qualification, that we achieved it with an 8-0 record. It was never easy. Not one game was easy - maybe the one game in Austria (a 90-49 win). But all of the other games were similar, at least very tough fought. But you don't really experience a game like tonight very often."

So much of the talk post game with reporters in Leipzig was about how bad Germany had performed.

"We have to be honest: we lost the game. We were so, so, so, so lucky. You can't describe it any other way," Germany captain Robin Benzing told Telekom Sport afterwards. "It was just luck for us that he [Israel's Tomer Ginat] missed that free throw. It was luck. We cannot be satisfied with how we played. It was a disappointing performance by us. I'm sorry to the fans. Of course we won and everyone is happy. But it wasn’t good how we played. The Israelis earned the victory more than we did, clearly. We were just lucky. We advanced and we are happy about that but only because we were lucky."

While Benzing scored 24 for the Germans, Rodl's main weapon once again was Schroder, who poured in 30 points and dished out a FIBA Basketball World Cup  Qualifiers record 13 assists to go with 4 rebounds, 2 steals and 1 block.

"The game wasn’t that good by us but we managed to win and qualify," Schroder said. "Basketball lasts 40 minutes or 45 minutes like today and we continued to believe in ourselves and it paid off in the end. Whether it was deserved or not, we got the victory."

The fact that Germany came back from a double digit deficit really should not have been a surprise as they trailed Serbia by 10 and 11 points in their First Round Qualifiers and won both of those games. Still, even Rodl was starting to doubt his team in Leipzig.

"It was really getting to a point where it was really difficult to believe in a comeback. But that is something that defines our team," Rodl said. "We have trailed in a lot of games in these Qualifiers and we always managed to find energy to come back and in the eighth game somehow find the energy and somehow a way to win the game. You need to be proud of that and I am, especially for the players who came here and gave everything."

Sure, the mission of qualifying for China 2019 is accomplished, but Rodl insists Germany are far from done fighting for victories in Group L.

"The seedings for the World Cup depend also on where teams finished in the Qualifiers. Every game will be taken just as seriously as until now. We want to continue winning and have fun. There is no reason to let up in any way. We want to have our chances of winning in every game and work on the team spirit that we have," the coach said.

The team spirit that allowed them to prevail through a roller-coaster of emotions and qualify for the World Cup.

FIBA