MANILA, Philippines – Germany has finally done it.
Germany, in its first appearance in a FIBA World Cup final, will be going home as the world champions after defeating Serbia, 83-77, Sunday night at the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City.
It is a fitting conclusion to a historic run, as the Germans trampled through the competition and won all eight games they played in the tournament.
And the gold medal game against Serbia was no exception.
With the game tied at 47-all at the half, Germany's defense clamped down on Serbia as Germans uncorked a 17-6 run capped by a layup by Moritz Wagner with 2:18 remaining in the third quarter to grab a 64-53 lead.
Frustrations mounted for the Serbs as they kept on asking for foul calls that supposedly came sparingly, affecting their layups and free throws.
Serbia, however, fought back in the final quarter as they cut a 12-point lead to four, 69-73, after a long bomb from Aleksa Avramovic.
A couple of possessions later, Johaness Voigtmann answered with a three of his own to give Germany a 76-69 lead with 4:27 remaining.
A pair of free throws by Franz Wagner gave Germany a nine-point cushion, but Avramovic answered with a three on the other end to cut the lead to six, 78-72, with 1:55 remaining.
Avamovic, the ever steady presence of Serbia, dropped in three clutch free throws to further cut the deficit to three.
Bogdan Bogdanovic was able to steal the ball, but Marko Guduric missed a corner 3-pointer that would have tied the game.
Dennis Schroder, who led Germany in scoring, split his freebies to give them a 79-75 lead with 48 seconds remaining.
A pair of free throws by Guduric made the game a one possession affair.
Schroder then found a straight lane to the rim and dropped in a layup for the ages to give Germany an 81-77 lead with 21.4 seconds remaining.
Avramovic missed a 3-pointer on the other end, but Nikola Jovic was able to rebound it. However, Marko Guduric tried to go inside with a bounce pass, but it went out, sealing the deal.
Schroder iced the game with a pair of free throws. He led Germany with 28 big points in the game of his life. He was followed by Franz Wagner with 19 points.
Avramovic led Serbia with 21 points followed by Bogdanovic with 17.
This is the second time Serbia finished with the silver medal after the 2014 FIBA World Cup in Spain against USA.