Germany's victory over Japan in the classification game sent them into the play-off for 5th-6th place against Israel on Monday at the National Indoor Stadium,

German forward Dirk Passiwan and center Dirk Kohler-Lenz combined for 53 points to lead Germany in a 71-57 win over Japan.

"We lost to Japan in the preliminary, but this time our defence and shooting were better. We pressed them more so we could shoot more. Our big center (Dirk Kohler-Lenz) also played very well. All these things are very important, and it's great for us to win the game," said the game leading scorer Passiwan.

Germany lost to Japan in a 56-58 thriller in a preliminary game of group A, but a 3-2 record for Germany made them rank ahead of Japan's 2-3 result in preliminaries.

Germany maintained a steady offensive momentum throughout the game, but overpowered Japan in the fourth quarter in which they outscored the opposition 22-14.

Germany also gained 14 points from Japan's 12 turnovers.

Japan's center Rao Fujimoto scored 20 points for his team, but only one other Japanese player scored in the double digits.

Germany advanced to the classification play-off game for 5th-6th place, against Israel, on Tuesday at the National Indoor Stadium.

(Xinhua News Agency September 15, 2008)