TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Wake Forest fell 92-85 in an overtime thriller against Florida State on Saturday afternoon at the Tucker Center.
A back and forth contest saw the Deacs (6-9, 3-9) and Seminoles (11-3, 7-2 ACC) exchanging the lead before entering a deadlock at 80 points at the end of regulation.
Jonah Antonio posted a prolific game to lead Wake Forest, posting career-highs in points (23) and three-pointers (seven). The graduate forward also led the Deacs in rebounds with eight.
The Perth, Australia native is the 12th player in program history to hit seven triples in a game and has made at least four threes in five games this season. His 87.5% from range is the best mark in program history, with a minimum of eight attempts, it is the second-best mark overall in program history.
Ian DuBose continued his strong play in his second game back, scoring 18 points on six-of-nine from the field. The Durham, N.C. native also finished with five assists, four rebounds, and two steals.
In his second-straight start, Carter Whitt dished out a career-high nine assists, the most by a Wake Forest freshman since Bryant Crawford in 2015.
How It Happened
Ian DuBose knocked down his first 3-pointer a minute into the contest to put the Deacs on the scoreboard.
Jonah Antonio knocked down back-to-back-to-back triples to give Wake Forest a 21-20 lead with 12:20 left in the first half.
The Deacs started the game shooting 5-for-7 from beyond the arc.
DuBose got a steal and dunk in transition to put the Deacs up 29-26 with 5:54 to go in the period.
DuBose ended an 11-0 Seminole run on a putback layup to cut the deficit to 6 (37-31) with 1:48 left in the half.
Wake Forest entered the intermission trailing FSU 41-31.
Antonio and DuBose led the Deacs in scoring with nine and eight points.
Carter Whitt dished out five first-half assists.
Isaiah Mucius’s first triple of the game cut the Seminole lead to single digits (52-44) with 16:02 left in the second half.
Jonah Antonio kicked off a 13-3 run by knocking down back-to-back triples. After baskets from Daivien Williamson, Jalen Johnson, and DuBose, the Deacs cut Florida State’s lead down to three (63-60) with 12 minutes to play.
The pair of 3-pointers set a new career high in scoring for the Aussie (18 points).
Antonio’s seventh triple tied the game at 66 with 6:42 left in the game.
The Deacs took a 70-68 lead with 5:08 to play after Antonio went 2-for-2 from the charity stripe, their first lead since the 5:30 mark of the first half.
Wake Forest regained the lead (72-70) after a DuBose’s layup with 4:19 to play.
Whitt’s first 3-pointer tied the game at 75 with 2:14 left in the game.
Johnson’s first triple retook the lead (78-75) with 1:30 to play.
DuBose extended the lead to 79-77 at the charity stripe with 19 seconds to play.
DuBose split a trip to the free throw line that gave the Deacs a two-point lead (80-78) with 5 seconds left. The Seminoles stormed down the court and made a layup in the final seconds to force overtime with the score tied at 80.
Wake Forest went on to fall to Florida State 92-85 in overtime.
Key Moment
Finding themselves trailing Florida State by 13 points (60-47) with 12:47 left to play, the Deacs embarked on a 19-6 run to tie the score at 66.
During the run, Jonah Antonio drained a trio of triples. Williamson, Johnson, DuBose, and Oguama also contributed baskets.
The run brought the Deacs back into the game, and gave Wake Forest the opportunity to regain the lead (68-66) after a successful trip to the free throw line by Antonio with 5:08 left in regulation.
Stats of the Game
Jonah Antonio finished the game with career highs in points (23) and made 3-pointers (seven). The graduate forward yielded the second-high single-game 3-point percentage (87.5) in program history (min. five attempts) and the highest in program history with a minimum of eight attempts.
Carter Whitt’s nine assists against Florida State are the most by a Wake Forest freshman since Bryant Crawford, who also had nine against Coastal Carolina on December 18th, 2015
Straight From Forbes
“I was really proud of my team. Offensively, I thought we really had them messed up. We were cutting and screening, running motion. They had a really hard time guarding it. I thought we were moving the ball. We didn’t turn it over much. We only turned it over two times in the second half against one of the top defensive teams in our league, and maybe in the country. But they got some rebounds in the guts of the game that we just couldn’t keep them off the glass. They’re big and athletic. We got a lot of stops in the zone, but we couldn’t get the rebound. That’s the one thing I don’t like about zone. We played 1-3-1 and some 2-3 today, but you’ve got to rebound out of it and we didn’t do that. But all in all, it’s just a game we should’ve won. There’s no other way to put it. Florida State, give them credit for fighting through coming off COVID for as long as they’ve been off, but we put ourselves in position to win and we didn’t do it.”
Up Next
Wake Forest will kick off a three-game home stand on Wednesday, Feb. 17 against Duke in Lawrence Joel Veteran’s Memorial Coliseum.
Tip-off against the Blue Devils is set for 8:30 p.m. and the game will broadcast on ACC Network.
