Courtesy GoDeacs.com
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – Taking the floor at Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum for the second time this week, Wake Forest men’s basketball (6-1, 0-0 ACC) hosted Detroit Mercy (3-3, 0-0 HL) on Saturday afternoon (Nov. 23). The Demon Deacons knocked off the Titans in a 67-57 victory while bumping its home record to 5-0 this season.
Hunter Sallis found a groove from the early get go, ultimately leading all individuals with 31 points. He was especially effective in his looks, going 12-for-18 from the floor and making five three-pointers, which tied for a career-best mark within a single game. It was the senior guard’s highest scoring clip of the season and second career performance of 30-plus points. Sallis added four assists and three steals as well, both of which were team highs.
Davin Cosby chipped in 11 points, three rebounds and three assists. The sophomore guard knocked in three triples – his third such showing this year of three or more makes from distance.
Tre’Von Spillers showed his usual activity around the rim, grabbing nine rebounds and scoring seven points. Defensively, the forward collected two steals and two blocks.
Five Deacs had two blocks, as the team’s 10 was a season-best mark. Additionally, it was the team’s first time recording 10 or more since finishing with 10 against Charlotte on Nov. 11, 2019.
Wake Forest held Detroit Mercy to a 33.3 field goal percentage – the lowest by an opponent this season.
With the win, Wake Forest has now won 27 of their last 28 games against non-conference opponents inside Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum, dating back to December 2018.
How It Happened
- Back-to-back three-pointers from Cosby in the first two minutes put Wake up 6-3.
- Sallis followed with a three of his own for the 9-3 lead.
- Two possessions later Cosby hit his third three points for the 12-3 lead just three minutes into the game.
- On the first offensive possession out of the timeout, Cosby found Sallis in the lane for a bucket and the 10-point lead.
- On the next possession, Sallis hit his second three of the game to extend the lead.
- Harris hit his first three of the game from the left corner two plays later.
- On the next possession, Sallis found Abass under the basket for his first points.
- A block by Sallis on the defensive end led to a transition bucket by Spillers when Johnson found him in the lane to keep Wake in front.
- Sallis ended a short scoring drought for the Deacs with a driving reverse layup on the baseline.
- A steal by Sallis led to a slam on the other end by Sallis to give the Deacs the double-digit lead once again, 30-19, with five minutes to go in the half.
- Sallis found Spillers in the lane after Spillers disrupted the pass on the defensive end for another bucket.
- After forcing a Detroit timeout, Sallis drove it in for the 15-point lead, 34-19.
- With a minute left in the half, Hildreth went 2-2 from the free throw line for the 16-point lead.
- Wake Forest took the 36-23 lead into halftime.
- Sallis led all scorers with 14 points on 6-of-8 shooting from the field and 2-of-3 from beyond the arc.
- Spillers led the Deacs with five first-half rebounds.
- Back-to-back turnovers by Detroit Mercy led to back-to-back buckets from Hildreth and Sallis to open the second half.
- Two possessions later Sallis hit his third three-pointer of the day for the 45-27 lead.
- His fifth came a few possessions later to end a short scoring drought and give Wake the 49-33 lead.
- Sallis hit his 10th basket of the day as he fought through the baseline for a jumper.
- Johnson hit his first three of the game from the top of the key with 10 minutes to go for the 54-40 Wake Forest lead.
- Cosby found Johnson at the other end off a defensive rebound to maintain the 14-point lead with under seven minutes to play.
- A putback from Spillers out of the timeout maintained the lead.
- On the next possession, Sallis hit his fifth three-pointer of the game from the left wing.
- Out of the timeout, Cosby got his first points of the second half under the basket.
- Sallis drove it in for his 11th field goal of the game to make it 65-54 with under two minutes to play.
- Wake Forest defeated Detroit Mercy, 67-57.
Stats of the Game
- Hunter Sallis led all players in scoring on Saturday, erupting for 31 points while shooting 12-for-18 from the field and 5-of-9 from downtown.
- It was the second time in Sallis’ career, and as a Demon Deacon, in which he totaled over 30 points.
- Wake Forest netted 10 three-pointers versus the Titans – its second-best total in a contest this year.
- The Demon Deacons’ defense stifled Detroit Mercy into shooting 33.3 percent from the field and 26.3 percent from three-point territory.
Key Moment
- Wake Forest came out of the halftime break on an immediate tear, going on a 6-0 run in less than 30 seconds once the final 20 minutes unfolded:
- Churchill Abass first drew a foul on an offensive rebound, making two tries at the line.
- Tre’Von Spillers then got a steal off an inbounds pass to find Cameron Hildreth under the rim for a layup.
- Hunter Sallis quickly picked up another steal on the Titans’ next inbounds possession, scoring a basket and forcing a timeout.
- Wake Forest upped its lead to 42-23.
Coach’s Comments
“I want to thank our crowd for coming. I’ve been really impressed during this home stretch with our crowd. We’ve had some good attendance for home games. I’ve been impressed with the support that we’re getting. Coming into the game, I knew Mark’s team was going to be ready to play. They had a really nice road win against Ball State. He’s doing a really good job with this team and I’m really glad that he got a second chance at it. Mark was a young head coach at Northern Illinois and it didn’t work out, but he went back with Coach Izzo and now he’s back in Detroit. He inherited a team that won one or two games last year and they’re going to be good.
They have a young team and they play really hard. They were really connected. They know their roles and they can really drive it and they’ve got some guys that can shoot the three. Defensively we were solid the entire game. We defended really well against a team that drives the ball really well. We defended the three. They shot 37 percent from three coming in and shot 50 percent over their last three games, and we held them to 26 percent. We had to play a small team and we still had 10 blocks. It was a really good effort defensively. They only got two points in transition.
We started off the game good offensively. That helped us. DC [Davin Cosby] got us going. Same with Hunter [Sallis]. We had 16 assists on 24 baskets. 75 percent of our baskets were assisted and we only had five turnovers. A week ago today we had 18. It was great to see Hunter breakout from three and then just overall. He looked really good. I was happy for him and he played great. We had some funky lineups. I’m going to give my players a lot of credit because we didn’t prepare to have that lineup out there today. We had to throw out some weird lineups today and when they went zone, a lot of those plays I had Cameron [Hildreth] at the four and sometimes I even had Juke [Harris] at the five. There was a lot of standing and I get it. It’s something that we’re going to have to fix, but I give them a lot of credit for overcoming that and not thinking about it and just going out there and playing. I’ll give them credit for that.” – head coach Steve Forbes
Up Next
The Demon Deacons will head to Orlando, Florida, next week for the ESPN Events Invitational Nov. 28-29. Wake’s first game will be on Thanksgiving Day, Thursday, Nov 28, against the No. 21 Florida Gators.
Tip is set for 1 p.m. ET and the game will air live on ESPN2.
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