Courtesy of GoDeacs.com
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – With four individuals reaching double figures in points, Wake Forest men’s basketball brought a balanced attack to Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum on Saturday afternoon (Dec. 7), hosting Boston College in its Atlantic Coast Conference opener. The Demon Deacons (8-3, 1-0 ACC) hung on for a 72-66 victory over the Eagles (6-4, 0-1 ACC).
Cameron Hildreth recorded his first double-double of the year with season highs in points (22) and rebounds (10). The senior guard also reached a new career-best mark in free throws both made and attempted (14-for-18) while adding three assists and two steals.
Freshman guard Juke Harris quickly gave a spark as a reserve, notching a season-high 12 points while swishing in three triples. The Salisbury, North Carolina, native also played just over 30 minutes – his most through this winter thus far.
Holding down the frontcourt, Efton Reid III and Tre’Von Spillers chipped in 11 points apiece. Spillers also pulled down nine rebounds while shooting 5-for-9 from the floor. Defensively, Reid added two steals and a block.
Ty-Laur Johnson dished out four assists, tying his best total of the season up to date.
The Deacs’ defense held Boston College to a 36.8 field goal percentage on 21-of-57 shooting for the afternoon.
Within the Steve Forbes era, Wake Forest has gone 4-1 in ACC home openers. Additionally, the program has now started at least 6-0 or better inside LJVM Coliseum for the past four seasons.
How It Happened
- The Deacons recorded the game’s first points off the opening tip on a Tre’Von Spillers hook shot.
- Cameron Hildreth added a floater two possessions later before adding one from the free throw line the next trip to cut the deficit down to four.
- After a 6-0 run gave the Eagles a ten-point lead, the Deacs responded with a 9-0 run of their own to cut it down to a 15-14 deficit.
- Spillers added the Deacs first three of the game at the 15:18 mark.
- Hunter Sallis notched his first two points two possessions later to make it 15-10.
- Efton Reid III recorded his first basket the next trip down the court to make it a three point game.
- Hildreth added a pair from the charity stripe to cut the Eagle lead down to just one.
- Sallis got The Joel rocking as he finished an alley-oop from Parker Friedrichsen after a steal to make it 17-16, Eagles.
- Out of the timeout, Juke Harris hit a three from the left wing for the 19-17 Wake Forest lead.
- After a three-point play from BC, a free throw from Reid tied it at 20-20.
- Another three from Harris on the next possession gave Wake the three-point lead.
- Two free throws from Hildreth put the Deacs back within one of the Eagles, 26-25.
- Johnson got his first bucket on a baseline drive for Wake to remain within one of BC.
- Johnson went on to find Reid under the basket for the finish and the one-point lead, 31-30.
- Sallis converted the and-one play on the next possession for the four-point lead.
- On the next possession, Hildreth sunk a backdown jumper in the lane.
- A steal from Sallis on the defensive end led to a Johnson-Sallis alley oop and the 38-33 lead for Wake Forest.
- Wake Forest took the 38-35 lead into halftime.
- Sallis and Hildreth led the Deacs with nine points each in the opening 20 minutes.
- Hildreth led all players with six first-half rebounds.
- Sallis found Reid under the basket for a bucket to get the Deacs going in the second half.
- Hildreth found his way to the lane for a bucket to give the Deacs the lead back, 42-41.
- A defensive rebound from Johnson and a cross-court pass to Spillers for the dunk put Wake up 46-41 and on an 8-0 run.
- Harris extended the run to 11-0 with a three from the left wing on the next possession.
- Hildreth grabbed a steal and took it coast-to-coast for the bucket and the 51-44 lead.
- On the next possession, Spillers earned a bucket to keep the seven-point lead.
- A free throw from Johnson out of the timeout extended the lead to eight.
- After a short run by the Eagles, a free throw from Hildreth gave the Deacs the 56-55 lead with 7:30 left to play.
- Friedrichsen hit his first three of the game to extend Wake’s lead back to four points.
- Two free throws from Hildreth on the next possession made it a six-point lead.
- After BC cut it to two, a pair of free throws from Hildreth got the Wake lead back to four with 3:30 to go.
- Two more from Hildreth on the next possession kept the lead at four.
- A turnaround jumper from Spillers out of the timeout maintained Wake’s four-point lead, 68-64, with 40 seconds left to play.
- With 29 seconds to go, Reid hit two free throws to keep it a four-point game.
- Hildreth also hit two with 18 seconds remaining to make it a six-point game.
- Wake Forest defeated Boston College, 72-66.
Stats of the Game
- Senior Cameron Hildreth notched his first double-double since he did so against Syracuse last season, finishing the game with a team-high 22 points and 10 rebounds while shooting 14-for-18 from the free throw line.
- The Deacs forced 10 or more turnovers for the 18th straight game. The Deacs have now forced 167 turnovers across their first 11 games this season, leading the ACC.
- Four Wake player scored 11 or more points:
Key Moment
- After going down 41-38 with 17:26 left to play, the Demon Deacons went on an 11-0 run over a 2:49 span, which was capped off by Juke Harris’ third three-pointer of the contest to give the Deacs a 49-41 lead.
Coach’s Comments
“I’m really proud of my team for getting this win today. It was a hard-fought game and I knew it would be a rock fight as it always is against Boston College especially when opening up league play. That was one of the things I talked to the players about early in the locker room was, look, everybody’s got hope now — everybody’s zero and zero in the league. It’s not February, so everybody will have great energy and they’re going to come in here with great energy.
Boston College had a good plan against our ball screen defense even though they only shot 36 percent from the field, they beat the hedge with speed. They had some guys step up and make some threes maybe that maybe don’t do that as much, but I give them credit. Overall, defensively, we were pretty good the entire game. We had six kills and we stopped them on seven of our last 11 possessions and five out of the last six. Offensively, we got in some pretty good rhythm today, a better rhythm than we’ve had. We’ve spent as much time as we could in the last 48 hours working on cutting. We just stand too much on offense and when we cut, we get better ball movement and better driving opportunities. That’s probably one of the reasons why we got to the lane or the foul line a lot more today when we got the ball. We shot 61 percent at the rim, even though I still think we missed some easy shots in there. We had a lot better ball movement, 5-for-13, from three. We still need a few more threes up than that, but in this game that’s probably not the case.
Ty [Johnson] did a really good job coming off the bench and helping our team, taking care of the ball and getting guys involved. He sparked plays and played good defense. Juke, same thing. He made shots, and he was solid defensively, he played a lot of minutes. Parker made a big three when we needed it. The guys did a good job of executing out of timeouts and some of the things that we put in. All in all, we’re 8-3 and we have this break coming up. We need it, and we need to get better before we play James Madison.” – head coach Steve Forbes
Up Next
Wake Forest will have a 10-day break for finals as the student-athletes complete the fall semester. The Deacs will return to the hardwood Tuesday, Dec. 17, for the final non-conference matchup of the season against James Madison.
Tip is set for 7 p.m. and the game will stream live on ACC Network Extra.
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