Timberwolves' Nemanja Bjelica makes buzzer-beater to lead Serbia over Germany

BERLIN — Nemanja Bjelica made a difficult lay-up with less than a second remaining to lift Serbia to a 68-66 victory over Germany at the European basketball championship on Sunday.

In a later Group B match, newcomer Iceland came close to scoring its maiden victory but Italy avoided a huge upset by pulling away late in the game for a 71-64 victory.

Serbia improved to 2-0 in the tough Group B, while Germany fell to 1-1. Italy is 1-1 and Iceland 0-2.

Bjelica, who will join the Timberwolves as a rookie this season, led Serbia with 12 points in a close game, with neither team ever leading by more than seven.

Dirk Nowitzki had 15 for Germany but he was only 5-for-15 from the field. Tibor Pleiss also added 15 points for Germany, while Dennis Schroeder had 11, shooting 4-for-11, along with six assists and four turnovers.

In Group A, Poland edged Russia 82-79 and Israel beat Finland 79-66 to go 2-0, while Macedonia topped the Netherlands 78-71 in Group C and Slovenia beat Georgia 79-68. Belgium dismissed Estonia 84-55 in Group D, while Lithuania beat Latvia 68-49.

Poland is 2-0, Russia 0-2, the Netherlands and Macedonia both 1-1, Belgium is 1-1 and Estonia 0-2. Lithuania is 2-0, Slovenia 1-1, Latvia is 1-1 and Finland 0-2.

With 3.7 seconds on the clock, Serbia called a timeout and devised the play for Bjelica. Milos Teodosic got the ball to Bjelica, who drove in past three Germans and put it in with an unorthodox shot.

"This was the most important game in the group," Bjelica said. "We didn't really have time to prepare for this game."

Serbia played late the night before, beating Spain 80-70.

"It was an incredible shot," Serbia's coach Sasa Djordjevic said of the winning basket. "We tried to find him to take the shot and he did it.

"I knew this was going to be the toughest game in the group," Djordjevic added. "We spent a lot of energy last night and this was the most important win."

"Half of those shots were forced, Germany played very aggressive defense. It might be a negative record. But still, we kept them to 66 points and I'll take that any time," Djordjevic said.