By Eurohoops team/ info@eurohoops.net
Lorenzo Brown scored a team-high 29 points and dished out six assists as Spain beat host Germany 96 – 91 to advance to the 2022 EuroBasket Final. “La Roja,” which will face France for the gold Sunday (18/9), has secured a medal for the seventh straight EuroBasket tournament and 10th overall in 11 competitions since 1997.
It’s a sign of pure dominance and Brown proved once more that he belongs on the level of this roster, being the star of the Spanish show vs. Germany.
“The energy was amazing out there. Schroder came out playing unbelievable,” Brown said. “It took a lot of guts our end. I have to give a special, special shoutout to Alberto [Diaz] – he came through and played some great defense and allowed us to get the win.”
Following a game with major ups and downs and lead changes for both teams, the Spanish side made a decisive 13-0 run through less than four minutes in the final quarter to go up 77 – 83 with 4:40 remaining. Andreas Obst hit a 3-pointer but Juancho Hernangomez responded with the same currency and his team retained the same defensive intensity to never allow Germany to approach by a shooting distance until the very last seconds.
Maodo Lo cut the margin to 91 – 94 but Usman Garuba threw down a dunk to secure Spain’s win and celebrate it. Garuba was one of the protagonists for the winning squad on the defensive end while also dishing a team-high seven assists (!). Willy Hernangomez had 16 points and his brother Juancho added 13 points. Alberto Diaz finished with 10 points while putting on some tremendous work on both ends, particularly against Germany superstar Dennis Schroder down the stretch.
Schroder dropped 30 points and eight assists for Germany but he, as well as most of his teammates, went completely silent in the last eight minutes, and after he scored his last basket for the 77 – 70. He had erupted in the second period with 10 points in the last five minutes of the first half that lifted his team from down nine, to going up 51 -46 at the break.
Spain retook the lead, only for Germany to rally once more and go ahead 71 – 61 near the end of the third period. This difference would also be gone by the end of the fourth quarter as Sergio Scariolo’s players were the ones with the powerful finish.
Franz Wagner added 15 points and Obst posted 15 points plus five rebounds.
“Congratulations to Spain,” Germany coach Gordon Herbert said. “We lost momentum early in the fourth quarter. They got some easy baskets and we missed a couple of easy ones. Give them credit. Thought the turning point was the end of the third and we had a tough five, six minutes. We had a great tournament up until now and obviously we are disappointed.”