Germany beat Montenegro 85-79 to reach the EuroBasket quarterfinals. Gordon Herbert’s team led with 24 points in the first half, while the Montenegrins put on a great performance in the second half, making a huge comeback after trailing 80-77 with half a minute left.

Germany will play either Greece or the Czech Republic in the quarterfinals.

The Germans stepped on the gas and led 11-2 thanks to a 3-pointer from Schroeder with about six minutes remaining in the first period. The guests reacted and with consecutive points from Perry, Simonovic and Mihajlovic reduced the score to 11-10 with three minutes left in the first period. From that moment on, Gordon Herbert’s wards did not miss a single basket, looked for points from Thimann and Lo and closed the first quarter with a score of +9 (19-10).

With two consecutive two-pointers from Tiemann and Loch, the Germans led 23-10 early in the second period. Bosko Radovic’s team tried to answer Drobnjak and Dublijevic, but Germany made it 42-19 with Weitmann and Schröder. The second quarter ended with the home team leading double (48-24) thanks to Schroeder’s two-pointer.

Montenegrins answered at the beginning of the third quarter. Back-to-back Radonic and Dublijevic scored Boško Radovic’s team cut the score to 51-37 and 53-40 thanks to Mihajlovic’s well-timed 3-pointer. The Germans hit the gas again and got to 63-45 with Wagner. Simonovic and Schroeder made it 67-50 at the end of the third period.

Guests strongly entered the last part of the match. The Montenegrins cut the lead to 67-58 with Perry and 69-64 with the same player with about seven minutes left in the game. With two points from Thimann and Theis, the Germans were 73-64 and 76-66 with a three from Lo. Montenegrins reduced the score to 80-77 half a minute before the end. Perry was charged with an unsportsmanlike foul on Law. Alba’s defender landed two shots at 82–77, and Schröder with two shots out of two made it 85–77, effectively “cleaning up” qualifying.

Quarters: 19-10, 48-24, 67-53, 85-79.

Germany (Herbert): Gifai 2, Holatz, Law 14 (2 3s, 4 rebounds, 3 assists), Obst 9 (3/5 3s, 4 rebounds), Schruder 22 (5/9 2s, 2/7 3s, 6/7 shots, 4 rebounds) , 8 assists, 5 assists, 1 steal), Theis 9 (4 rebounds), Tiemann 9 (1), Vogtman 2 (4 rebounds, 5 assists), Wagner 14 (1/4 3-pointers, 5 rebounds), Wolfart- Botterman 4 .

Montenegro (Randovich): Drobniak 5 (1/4 3-pointers, 5 rebounds, 3 assists), Dublievich 22 (7/13 2-pointers, 2/7 3-pointers, 2/2 shots, 7 rebounds), Ilic, Mihajlovic 12 (2), Perry 25 (3/ 3 two-pointers, 5/10 three-pointers, 4/5 shots, 6 assists), Popovic, Radoncic 2, Radoncic (0/4 shots), Simonovic 13 (2 three-pointers, 9 rebounds)).