GER - German U17 wins thriller against Italy

HAMBURG (Albert Schweitzer Tournament) - Germany won the final game of the preliminary round against Italy with 70:67 and sealed the first spot in their group. From Wednesday on, the young German Team will compete against the best eight teams of the tournament.

Head Coach Menz started with Anselm Hartmann, Malik Müller, Jakob Krumbeck, Paul Albrecht, and Bogdan Radosavljevic. After four quick points by Italy, Jakob Krumbeck got Germany back into the game with a three-pointer and a drive for the 5:4 (5. Min.). It was an exciting game with a lot of tempo and adrenalin on both ends. Julius Wolf came into the game for Germany and gave the hosts a boost offensively. After the fist ten minutes, Italy stole the lead but the game was still tight (15:16).

The second quarter started off with a 5:0 run by Italy but Germany answered with big three-pointers by Krumbeck and a nice three-point play by Radosavljevic. Italy's shooting performance, especially from the three-point range was tremendous and lead them to the 38:29 advantage at halftime.

Germany opened the quarter with a three-pointer by Julius Wolf, Jakob Krumbeck also added five points. It was a neck-to-neck game until the final minutes when Besnik Bekteshi sealed the win from the free-throw line.

Germany played with:
Anselm Hartmann (TuS Jena, 12), Josip Peric (ALBA Berlin), Malik Müller (SG Urspringschule, 7), Besnik Bekteshi (BSG Ludwigsburg, 9), Jakob Krumbeck (TuS Jena, 6), Fabian Bleck (Phoenix Hagen, 2), Paul Albrecht (TuS Jena, 15), Julius Wolf (1, SG Urspringschule), Tim Unterluggauer (TSV Bayer Leverkusen), Stephan Haukohl (TuS Jena, 2), Jonathan Malu (SOBA Rhöndorf, 2) and Bogdan Radosavljevic (without club, 2).

Germany will host the FIBA U17 World Championship from 2nd to 11th July in Hamburg.