WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – Wake Forest men’s basketball fell at Clemson, 80-69, on Wednesday evening inside Littlejohn Coliseum.
The Demon Deacons (21-8, 11-7 ACC) battled back from a 12-point deficit in the first half and trailed by just three points at halftime and by a single point multiple times in the second half. Despite the loss, Wake Forest connected on nine makes from beyond the arc and outrebounded Clemson (13-15, 5-12 ACC) by a 36-to-30 margin, including 13 offensive rebounds.
Damari Monsanto led the team in scoring with a season-high 17 points on 6-of-14 shooting, including a season-high tying four makes from beyond the arc. Monsanto also hauled in seven rebounds in his first start as a Deacon.
Jake LaRavia led the team’s comeback effort in the second half, during which he scored 11 of his 15 points. The reigning ACC Player of the Week had a team-high eight boards and registered three steals.
Alondes Williams rounded out the group of Deacs scoring in double figures with 13 points and four assists on 5-of-11 shooting. Williams is now tied with Derrick McQueen for the 16th-most assists over a single season in program history (147).
Freshman Matthew Marsh tied his season high with eight points on 4-of-5 shooting in the most action the rookie big man has seen since November.
How It Happened
- Daivien Williamson scored the Deacs first points of the contest on a three-pointer in the corner.
- The triple tied the game at three apiece 90 seconds into the game.
- Following some good defensive possessions that included a Dallas Walton blocked shot, Cameron Hildreth netted his first three-pointer of the night to bring the team within two points of the lead (8-6) with just under 14 minutes to go in the opening half.
- Damari Monsanto connected on his first triple of the night with 8:46 remaining until intermission to cut the Tigers lead to six, 18-12.
- Monsanto hit three more three-pointers over the next three-plus minutes of play to keep Wake Forest in the game.
- Williamson scored a basket to open up a 7-0 Wake Forest run to cut the deficit down to two points (31-29) with 2:21 left until halftime.
- Matthew Marsh threw down a dunk off a feed from Williams, and LaRavia netted a pair of free throws to cut Clemson’s lead to 36-33 before going into the locker room.
- Monsanto led all scorers at halftime with 13 points thanks to his four triples and a free throw.
- Eight of the team’s 11 first half baskets were assisted upon, and seven of those 11 came from beyond the arc.
- Williams scored the team’s first points in the second half on a vicious alley oop dunk served by Williamson.
- Hildreth and Monsanto scored on back-to-back possessions to cut Clemson’s lead to a single point (40-39) with just under 17 minutes left to play.
- Williamson’s second triple cut the Clemson lead to just one (46-45) with just over 14 minutes remaining in the final half.
- Marsh’s dunk off a pass from Williams ended an 8-0 Clemson run and cut the team’s deficit to seven (56-49) with just over eight minutes left in regulation.
- Monsanto’s jumper cut the deficit back down to single digits (63-55) and the Deacs eventually climbed back within four points (63-59) at the under-4 timeout.
- Wake Forest would cut it to a three-point deficit with 1:27 on the clock (70-67), but Clemson answered each of the Demon Deacon runs and went on the win by 11 points, 80-69.
Stat of the Game
- In his first-career start as a Demon Deacon, Damari Monsanto led the team in scoring with a season-high 17 points including four makes from beyond the arc. Monsanto also hauled in seven rebounds. The redshirt freshman played a season-high 31 minutes as well.
- Rookie Matthew Marsh tied his season-high with eight points on 4-of-5 shooting against Clemson in the most action he has seen since non-conference play.
Coach’s Comments
“I thought Clemson outplayed us the entire game, and the score is evidence of that. We never secured a lead throughout the entire game. They were tough minded on both ends and executed at a higher level than us. In basketball, you get what you deserve and we got what we deserved tonight. We got off to a really poor start and could not guard their guards. I was worried about our physicality coming into the game and we played as poorly as we have played around the basket on offense all season. It’s hard to win when you can’t make your shots right at the basket. We had chances to take the lead in transition and made poor decisions that led to turnovers and opposing baskets. Once we lost the momentum on those plays, we never got it back. It’s really tough to win on the road when you play from behind the entire game, and that’s a credit to Clemson for coming out and taking the game to us.” – Coach Steve Forbes
Up Next
Wake Forest hosts Louisville on Saturday, February 26 in the team’s penultimate home game of the season.
Tipoff inside LJVM Coliseum is set for 7 p.m. and the game will air live on ACC Network.
