Heiko Saves Germany At The End

Turning Point: Trailing 79-75 after two Rihards Kuksiks free-throws for Latvia, Germany's Heiko Schaffartzik buried a three-ball to close the gap to one. Germany then fouled Kuksiks again with 18 seconds and this time, the forward made the first foul shot but missed the second. That left the door open for an unfazed Schaffartzik to drill his third three of the game with six seconds remaining for the 81-80 Germany triumph.

Game Heroes: Rihards Kuksiks put forth another terrific effort for Latvia with a game-high 27 points, while Schaffartzik had 11 points, 10 assists and the game-winning heroics at the end for Germany.

Stats Don't Lie: Latvia lost vital points at the free-throw line, making just 16 of 27 (59%).

If Germany have a star that can win close games in Dirk Nowitzki, they definitely have another in Heiko Schaffartzik.

The gutsy, sharpshooting Schaffartzik hit two three-pointers in the last 18 seconds on the last day of EuroBasket Group B action to lift Germany to an 81-80 win over Latvia.

Germany snapped a two-game losing skid with the triumph over the youngest team in the tournament.

Latvia, with an average age of 22.5 years, bowed out of the event with a fifth successive setback.

Latvia had come up just short in their previous four games against France, Serbia, Italy and Israel as well.

Schaffartzik has hit big shots for Germany before and who knows, he may rescue them in the days ahead when they take on Spain, Turkey and Lithuania in Vilnius and try to reach the Quarter-Finals.

"Heiko has a tremendous courage and he's not going to back down against anybody," Germany coach Dirk Bauermann said.

"He has great self-confidence, he wants to take the big shot at the end and he is extremely capable of making that big shot at the end.

"And he did that today. I thought it was a great performance by Heiko today, especially in the last two minutes of the game.

"He carried us and without him, we couldn't have won."

Latvia lost despite a 27-point explosion from Rihards Kuksiks, a 23-year-old who just wrapped up his career in American college basketball with Arizona State.

He made two free-throws to give Latvia a 79-75 lead with 26 seconds to play.

Just seven seconds later and Schaffartzik buried a three-ball to close the gap to one.

Germany then fouled Kuksiks again with 18 seconds to play and this time, the forward made the first free-throw but missed the second.

That left the door open for a Schaffartzik to drill his third three of the game with six seconds to go.

He did so, connecting from near the top of the key for the 81-80 Germany lead.

Latvia had one last roll of the dice.

They pushed the ball up the floor and got it to Janis Strelnieks, but his attempt from long range was off the mark.

Nowitzki did play and was, with Schaffartzik, one of five players to score 11 points in a balanced Germany attack.

Robin Benzing, Tibor Pleiss and Chris Kaman each poured in 11 as well.

Davis Bertans gets a lot of attention for Latvia but the 18-year-old's brother has been fantastic at the EuroBasket.

He finished with 15 points, making three of five shots from long range.

Rolands Freimanis chipped in 14 and Martins Meiers 11.

Latvia hurt themselves at the free-throw line for the second day in a row.

After hitting eight of 11 in the first half, they finished 16 of 27.