Germany beats Serbia for first gold medal at FIBA Basketball World Cup
Dennis Schroder produced a game-high 28 points and Franz Wagner added 19 points and seven rebounds to lead Germany to its first gold medal in the FIBA Basketball World Cup.
Schroder helped seal the 83-77 victory over Serbia on Sunday with a clutch layup to put Germany up by four points with 21 seconds left to play. He finished the contest by shooting 9-of-17 from the field, including 2-of-6 from 3-point range, in 34 minutes.
He was named Most Valuable Player of the tournament, averaging 19.1 points, 6.1 assists and 1.4 steals to lead Germany to a perfect 8-0 record. His 153 total points were the third-most scored by a German player in the World Cup, trailing only Dirk Nowitzki.
Aleksa Avramovic led Serbia with 21 points, Bogdan Bogdanovic had 17 points and Filip Petrusev added 10 points off the bench. The group claimed its second silver medal in the FIBA Basketball World Cup and its first since 2014.
GERMANY ARE WORLD CHAMPIONS 🏆#FIBAWC x #WinForAll pic.twitter.com/I8lopQbB33
— FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 🏆 (@FIBAWC) September 10, 2023
Germany clinched its first-ever berth in the semifinals of the World Cup after defeating Latvia on Wednesday. The group returned on Friday and beat the United States for the first time in seven matchups at the senior international level to set up its gold medal opportunity.
The team, along with Serbia, previously claimed one of two berths from the European region in the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, France. After winning the gold medal on Sunday, the group projects to be one of the favorites in the competition.
