GERMANY has claimed its first ever FIBA World Cup after ending its 2023 campaign with a six-point win over Serbia in the final on Sunday night.

The two best sides of the competition advanced to the deciding matches after a pair of impressive victories on Friday night. Both teams came in with plenty of belief on the back of tournament-defining performances, setting up an exciting conclusion to an entertaining World Cup.

Things did not exactly start in ideal fashion for Serbia, with starting guard Ognjen Dobric leaving the court in the first term with an ankle injury. Despite that, the Serbians scored the first five points of the match, before Germany returned serve with some strong offensive plays resulting in some buckets inside and outside.

Serbia was looking to push star Germany guard Dennis Schroder onto the baseline, forcing his teammates to generate the offence a lot of the time. Although, Schroder was still able to finish under the hoop or dish out to a teammate on the perimeter, it took some adjusting as Serbia headed into quarter-time with a three-point buffer.

The second quarter was much of the same as the two teams could not be separated for much of the term. Germany erased the deficit in essentially no time at all, playing with genuine speed that often brought the opposition defence undone. There were dunks and three-pointers from both teams, as the match was tied heading into the main break.

The third quarter proved to be decisive as Serbia’s shooting went cold while Germany continued to grind down the opposition and create good looks with strong drives inside the paint. Schroder began to get off the leash, blitzing into the paint past his immediate defender and finishing at the rack almost uncontested at times. Serbia tried to keep up on the scoreboard, but trailed by 12 points at the final change, with plenty of work to do in the final term.

Although things looked tough at the start of the period, the Serbians went on a serious run to start the term. Germany parked the bus a bit too early, not looking as aggressive with ball in hand as Serbia slowly but surely chipped away at the margin.

Germany’s lead was just two points in the final minute of the game, before Schroder drove to the hoop once again, creating space in a flash and putting the ball in off the glass. He then nailed crucial free throws to seal the game, as Germany claimed gold with an 83-77 win.

Schroder was the star of the show for Germany, which has been the story for the entire tournament. He finished the game with 28 points on 9/17 shooting from the field. After almost shooting his team out of the tournament with 22 misses against Latvia earlier in the fixture, the star guard finished things off in style with a match-winning performance on the big stage.

For Serbia, Bogdan Bogdanovic had a few big moments en route to 17 points of his own. He stood up with another big performance for his undermanned side, and required plenty of defensive attention with his ability to catch fire from behind the arc.