HIROSHIMA, Japan _ Dirk Nowitzki shook off a poor shooting first half to finish with 25 points and Germany advanced to the second round of the FIBA world championships with an 81-63 victory over Panama on Wednesday.

Germany (3-1) plays Angola (3-1) on Thursday with the winner finishing second in the six-team group behind Spain (4-0).

Nowitzki, who led the Dallas Mavericks to the NBA finals last season, was 4-for-10 from the field in the first half as Panama (0-4) took a 38-33 lead with 1:29 left in the second quarter.

But Germany scored the final four points of the first half and then opened the second half with a 16-0 run to take a 53-38 lead with 5:33 left in the second quarter.

Germany was 4-for-16 from 3-point range in the first half, but that percentage changed dramatically and in a hurry as it hit its first four 3-point shots in the opening 3:13 of the third quarter. Nowitzki hit the second of those 3s as he started the second half 3-for-4 from the field.

Panama went 8:32 without a field goal as Germany took a 55-40 lead on a jumper by Nowitzki with 3:26 left in the third quarter. Panama scored seven points in the third quarter, trailing 63-45 with 10 minutes to play.

Panama made a run against German substitutes to get within 66-55 with 5:29 to go, but coach Dirk Bauermann put the starters back in and Panama got no closer than 10 points.

Jair Peralta, Ruben Douglas, Kevin Daley, Michael Hicks and Dionisio Gomez each had nine points for Panama, which closes the tournament Thursday against New Zealand.