Germany Win Big Again

By Jared Grellet

Jan Wimberg and Germany finished on a respectable 5th place in Vilnius

Turning Point: Similar to their game against Spain 24 hours earlier, the Germans never allowed for their to be a turning point, developing an early 18-point lead that never looked like coming under threat.

Game Hero: Niklas Kiel off the bench for Germany, going six-for-10 from the field to finish with 21 points, alongside 11 boards.

Stats Don't Lie: Germany shot at 52.6% from the field in the opening half compared to Poland who could only manage a lowly 24%.

Germany have claimed their second convincing win in as many nights at the Dadu U16 European Championship, defeating Poland 74-59 to end their campaign in fifth position.

Despite the closeness of the final score, the result was never in doubt following a dominant opening half from Germany that put them in front by 25 points at the break.

Since losing their quarter-final, Germany's game has lifted considerably with the players reacting positively to no longer playing with any pressure on them.

That was certainly the case early on against the Poles as Harald Stein rotated his whole bench in the first quarter with seven players chipping in on the scoresheet to get their team up by 18 points at the end of the opening frame. At the same time, Poland made just one shot from the floor.

Poland's shooting from the floor improved considerably in the second quarter but it failed to make an impression on the scoreline with Germany still doing it easy when half-time arrived.

Poland's defense began to improve in the third quarter, stemming the flow of points being produced by Germany whilst Artur Wlodarczyk began to light up at the other end of the court with nine third-quarter points to keep the deficit to 20 points going into the final quarter.

Midway through the last period, a slight window of opportunity opened for Arkadiusz Miloszewski's team when Wlodarczyck provided an and-one to spur a 5-1 run and bring his team within 10 points. But no sooner had the window been opened, it was being slammed shut again as Niklas Kiel provided five of the last 11 points to guide Germany away from danger.

Kiel ended with a 21-point, 13-rebound double-double whilst Andreas Obst chipped in with 13 and Lars Kamp, 11.

Wlodarczyk matched Kiel with 21 points for the Poles.