Germany Now Within Touching Distance

Germany big man Tibor Pleiß finished with a double-double in points (17) and rebounds (11) and shot 80 percent from the floor

After powering their way to a comfortable 97-65 success on the road against Luxembourg in EuroBasket Qualification Round Group B, Germany can almost reach out and touch a place in Slovenia next summer.

Svetislav Pesic and his team coasted to a fifth straight win to keep their unbeaten record intact as Tibor Pleiss harvested a super double-double of 17 points and 11 rebounds.

And, with a string of excellent cameo displays by the likes of Robin Benzing, Karsten Tadda, Maik Zirbes and Jan-Hendrik Jagla, Germany showcased its depth and was just far too strong for the home team, who is still without a win to their name.

Luxembourg did however compete very well during the initial phase of the game, employing an impressively aggressive approach on offence which helped them take an early 14-12 lead.

Even when Germany moved ahead, they still showed spirit by levelling matters at 18-18 heading into the second quarter.

Then, trailing 32-28, a triple by Tom Schumacher kept them to within a point - only for the visiting team to subsequently put their foot on the accelerator ahead of the interval with a 17-6 burst, killing off any notion of Luxembourg continuing to keep pace for the remainder of the game.

Six Germany players reached double-digits whilst Martin Ranjak had 12 points, six assists and four rebounds for the hosts.

Quotes Luxembourg vs. Germany

Germany Head Coach Svetislav Pesic
"It's very hard for us to play against Luxembourg because they are playing very fast and it's difficult to play defense against them with our tall players. I wish them as well as their coach good luck. It took us a lot of time to get into the game. Our first half was far from perfect. It even took us several minutes in the second half to get settled and become defensively more agressive and finally take the game in our hands."

Luxembourg Head Coach Frank Baum
"Congratulations to this young german team and to their coach, they came and won. With the  new team they to find the mix between young and older players. We have had a though week. It has been our third game in six days with a lot of long trips. And nobody would have thought that we played so well in the first half. I am very happy with the fight we delivered. I think we fought really well and threw everything we had into this battle."

Germany player Philip Zwiener
"The first half we didn't play the way we imagined before. Luxembourg gave their best
and showed great heart. In the second half we found our usual game and
in the end we got a comfortable win."

Luxembourg player Martin Rajniak
"The second half has been very tough for us. The physical condition and the rhytm had been OK the first twenty minutes. Other than that we can be really proud to have played this match in this way."