LUDWIGSBURG (Germany) - Germany showed a different look but the reigning World Cup champions rolled to a comfortable 85-61 home victory over Montenegro in their FIBA EuroBasket 2025 Qualifiers opener.

The German side featured three national team debutants and only one player back from the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 winning side, but that didn't slow down the EuroBasket 2022 third-place finishers, especially first-timer Oscar Da Silva, who paced the Germans with 19 points.

Turning Point: Germany opened the game with a 16-0 cushion after nearly six minutes. The lead grew to 21 points, but Montenegro scored the final nine points of the third period and were back within six points at 58-52 early in the fourth quarter. Oscar Da Silva tipped in a miss to get the offense back going with a 12-1 run and Germany rolled to the win.

Game Hero: What a debut for Da Silva as the FC Barcelona power forward was all over the place for Germany. The 25-year-old scored 19 points on 9-of-13 shooting to go with 7 rebounds, 4 assists, 5 steals and 1 block for an efficiency of 29.

Stats Don't Lie: The home side drained 13 three-pointers, while also committing only 6 turnovers - and the world champions also held Montenegro to just 44 percent shooting for the game.

Bottom Line: Germany did the first part of the job in this window but will be looking to make it two for two on Sunday, February 25 in Bulgaria. Meanwhile, Montenegro will look to rebound as they host Sweden on the same evening. Sweden defeated Bulgaria 84-70 in their earlier showdown. 

They Said:

FIBA