By Phillip Murray
CORAL GABLES, FL. The Miami Hurricanes came home from a grueling road stretch looking to continue their win streak. Wake Forest came to Miami looking to get its second conference win of the season riding a 3 game losing streak. Both teams had one thing in common though. Both Miami and Wake Forest shot horribly from the field on Saturday as Miami came away with the win 77-63 in Saturday ACC Basketball action.
Miami shot 36 percent, way below its season average of 49, and Wake Forest shot 39 percent. It was a very tight but low scoring first half. Miami had their largest lead in the first half at 31-20 before Wake Forest outscored them 13-4 over the final 3 1/2 minutes to be down only 35-33 at the half.
The momentum changed in the second half for Miami. The Hurricanes came out more aggressive in the second half while Wake couldn’t establish any consistency to keep up. The player of the game was Miami reserve Ja’Quan Newton, who had 18 points in 25 minutes. Newton had a huge impact on the momentum of the game when his late jumper in the second half put Miami up 50-48. He also had a huge 3 point play to help surge Miami to a 65-51 lead on a 9-0 run. Newton shot an impressive 50% from the floor(5/10) and also 78% from the FT line. Miami guard McClellan was the best starter of the night doing everything on the floor. McClellan had 14 pts, 6 rbs, 5 stls, and 3 assts. Backcourt mate Angel Rodriguez added 14 points and 5 steals.
There were opportunities for Wake Forest to capitalize on Miami’s mistakes however. The Hurricanes missed 11 lay-ups and 2 dunks, but the Deacons couldn’t take advantage in transition. Poor shooting especially beyond the arc was another issue for Wake. The Demon Deacons shot 6 for 18 from 3 point range. Lastly was the turnovers. Wake Forest coughed up the ball 16 times allowing Miami to capitalize off that in the second half to get separation and gain a huge lead. The nail in the coffin for Wake was not getting off to the same hot start in the 2nd half as they enjoyed in the 1st, losing that momentum by forcing Miami to go to the line. Miami won the game at the FT line shooting 86%,(24-28) outscoring Wake Forest there by 13. Devin Thomas let the Deacons with 12 points and nine rebounds, followed by Bryant Crawford with 12 points and six assists.
Miami beat the Demon Deacons 77-63 extending their win streak and also extending Wake Forest’s losing streak. With the loss the Deacons fall to 10-9(1-6 in the conference) and remain second to last. The Deacons schedule will continue to be tough as it hosts 13th ranked Virgina on Tuesday, making the matchup the Deacon’s third consecutive game against a ranked opponent. For Miami, the Hurricanes are set to host 20th rank Duke on Monday.
