HAMBURG (FIBA U17 World Championship) - In front of a highly entertained crowd of 2,400 spectators hosts Germany hit the floor against european rivals Spain. In the first quarter it was all about defense as neither team was able to make its mark offensively. Germany hit as many as 5-of-14 field goals, Spain went for 4-of-18 shooting (9:11, 10min).

Going into the second stanza German forward Julius Wolf hit two consecutive three pointers to spark a 14:2 run (13:23, 15min). Spain's head coach Diego Ocampo needed two time-outs in two minutes before his players responded on court and came back to close the period with a 17:4 spurt (30:27, 20minutes).

Point guard Jaime Fernandez controlled Spains' offensive sets, looking for big men to play pick-and-roll with - successfully. Germany struggled to figure out a way how to stop Fernandez from splitting the defense at will. A triple by Josip Peric gave Germany the upside of the scoreboard once again.

Then, it was time for Jakob Krumbeck (13 points) to change the outcome of the game. The athletic guard from Jena sliced through the Iberian lanes, knocking down a heavily contested layer of traffic to end the third quarter (45:49, 30min).

Krumbeck was not done yet. The 1,87m talent opened the last quarter with a three-pointer to go along with another layup, an open jumper and a putback. His eleven consecutive points for Germany secured his team a solid lead, although Spain drilled two treys on the other end of the floor (51:58, 35min). Bogdan Radosavljevic (18 points, 6 rebounds, 3 blocks) blocked two shots during a single posession, getting the entire crowd on its feet.

Whenever Spain tried to cut the lead, the hosts refused to back down - not even in the last two minutes, when it came down to tactical fouls. A three-pointer from Besnik Bekteshi at the horn from just inside the half brought the final scores to 74:64, providing the icing on the cake."

Quotes

Diego Ocampo, Spain head coach: "It is impossible to win a game when you rebound like that. It was obvious that every game in this building is an important one for Germany."

Frank Menz, Germany head coach: "I am very pleased the way we played today. Last year we had a chance to take a glimpse at Spain at the U16 Championship, and I was really impressed by their defensive mindset. Before the game I did not expect us to be in the mix for such a long time, having the opportunity to beat Spain. On the other hand it is just a win, we got three more games to go in groug stage, what will be a difficult task as we need one more win to make it to the quarter finals."

FIBA / JB