ATHENS, Greece (AP) - Dirk Nowitzki scored a tournament-high 35 points to lead Germany to an 89-71 victory over New Zealand on Wednesday at a qualifying tournament for the Beijing Olympics.
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Germany used a 17-3 run midway through the second quarter to take a 47-33 halftime lead.
"Dirk is one of the best players in the world. He can score in so many ways," said fellow NBAer Chris Kaman, who added 20 points for Germany but sat out the fourth quarter with a sore ankle.
Kirk Penney scored 29 for New Zealand, which will meet Greece, 89-69 winners over Brazil in Friday's quarterfinals. Germany will play Brazil.
After a balanced first quarter, Greece took over the game and were never seriously challenged by Brazil, which is missing its three NBA stars - Leandro Barbosa of the Phoenix Suns, Anderson Varejao of the Cleveland Cavaliers and Nene of the Denver Nuggets. Antonis Fotsis led Greece with 18 points and 10 rebounds and Tiago Splitter scored 20 for Brazil.
"Greece played aggressive defense throughout and took us off our rhythm," said Splitter. "They had 18 assists and we had only 3," added Brazil's Spanish coach Moncho Monsalve.
In afternoon action, Canada rebounded from its opening loss against Slovenia and stunned South Korea with a 14-0 run over the last 2:42 to win 79-77 and advance to the quarterfinals.
Jermaine Anderson's 3-pointer with 34 seconds to play put Canada ahead for the first time since the first quarter for the final score.
"I just told these guys to stay with it," Canada coach Leo Rautins said. "(They) settled down and started playing basketball."
Rowan Barrett led Canada with 22 points, while Jeon Jung-gyu scored 19 for the Koreans.
Following its 86-70 loss to Slovenia Tuesday, Canada released Philadelphia 76ers Samuel Dalembert, who had scored 4 points on 1-for-8 shooting.
"We decided to move forward with the players who have the passion and desire to play for Canada," Rautins said.
Croatia rallied to beat Puerto Rico 95-81 and will face Canada in the quarterfinals. Puerto Rico will face undefeated Slovenia.
The eight quarterfinalists are vying for the three remaining Olympic places in Beijing.