Schroder drops record 38 points to deny Poland's great escape; Estonia, Israel advance

MUNICH (Germany) - Dennis Schroder set a new scoring record in the FIBA Basketball World Cup European Qualifiers with 38 points to lift Germany to a 93-83 victory over Poland in a result that ended the Poles' hopes and sent both Estonia and Israel through to the Second Round instead.

The 28-year-old guard put Germany on his back with 14 points late in the fourth, as he hit back-to-back triples to push the hosts 82-78 ahead before closing out the win in Bremen from the foul line - finishing 11-of-12 from the stripes as well as netting seven three-pointers. 

Schroder was dared to shoot by Poland and continued to put points on the board, surpassing the previous European Qualifiers record held by Georgia's Michael Dixon back in 2017, as Germany finish with five wins from six games.

"People say 'there's no I in team' but I believe there is," said head coach Gordie Herbert. "We need the individual talents, but we need the team first. Tonight you saw a tremendous individual performance from Dennis Schroder, but we had the team there first."

Poland's rollercoaster ride in Group D officially came to an end as their attempted turnaround from a 0-3 start came up short in Bremen. After beating Estonia by two points in February, they came through an overtime epic against Israel on Thursday and looked on course for a decisive victory against Germany when they led 75-71 inside the final three minutes.

AJ Slaughter had fired in eight three-pointers on the way to 32 points for Poland, but his performance was overshadowed as it became the 'Schroder Show' particularly down the stretch. 

'Game recognize game' - Schroder and Slaughter embrace after scoring a combined 70 points 

"It was a hard-fought game on both sides. We all knew how important this game was for our country. I think we can be proud of our effort even though we came up a little short," commented Slaughter post-game.

Poland's pain was Estonia's elation as their Second Round spot was secured midway through their encounter with Israel with the pending threat of elimination eradicated.

Israel took care of business in any case as they took another important win through to the next phase as they dominated the second half to beat Estonia 96-77. Tomer Ginat top scored with 17 points for the hosts with Roman Sorkin adding 16 points off the bench to finish second with a 3-3 record.

Germany, Israel and Estonia will now progress onto Group J in the Second Round where they will come up against Finland, Slovenia and one of Croatia or Sweden. 

FIBA