Courtesy GoDeacs.com
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – The Wake Forest men’s basketball team grinded out a 71-60 victory over Longwood Friday night at Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum.
The Demon Deacons held the Lancers to just 16 points over the final 12:16 of the game. Over the course of the night, Wake Forest turned Longwood over 24 times, resulting in 25 points off turnovers.
After a dunk from Leslie Nkereuwem put Longwood up 45-44, graduate transfer guard Jonah Antonio helped spark a 10-0 run that put the Deacs up for good. He knocked down a pair of threes while fellow graduate transfer guard Ian DuBose hit a pair of jumpers.
With 9:30 left in the game, Wake Forest built out their lead to 54-45. From that point, the Demon Deacons led by at least two possessions the rest of the way.
DuBose and Antonio ended the night with a game-high tying 14 points in the game. Sophomore guard Jahcobi Neath and sophomore forward Ismael Massoud finished in double figures as well.
DuBose filled out his stat line with five assists, four rebounds and three steals, leading the Demon Deacons in each category. He is the first player to accomplish the feat for since Brandon Childress at Notre Dame last season (Jan. 24, 2020).
How It Happened
Through the first nine minutes of action, Wake Forest had six different players account for the team’s 16 points, helping the Deacs to a 16-10 lead. Of the first 16 points, 10 came in the paint.
Going 4-of-5 from the field, sophomore Jahcobi Neath had a game-high 10 points at halftime.
The game remained tight throughout the first half with a Lancers three right before the buzzer, knotting the game at 34-34.
With the help of a pair of threes from Jonah Antonio, Wake Forest went on a 10-0 run to make it 54-45 with 9:30 remaining in the game.
From that point, the Demon Deacons led the rest of the way allowing the Lancers to score just 16 points over the last 12 minutes of the game. In total, the Deacs forced Longwood to turn the ball over 24 times in the contest. Meanwhile, Wake Forest turned the ball over just 12 times on the night.
Wake Forest stretched the lead out to as much as 14 with 0:58 remaining in the contest. The Deacs would score once more to close out the 71-60 win.
Antonio and Neath combined to score 26 of the Demon Deacons 31 bench points.
Nine of the 10 Deacs who played in the game scored.
Key Moment
Trailing 45-44 with 12:16 left in the game, Wake Forest proceeded to go on a 10-0 run to make it 54-45 with 9:30 left in the game. Jonah Antonio netted a pair of threes and Ian DuBose added the other four points during the run.
The Deacs had at least a five-point lead the rest of the way, stretching it out to as many as 14 points.
Stat of the Game
Wake Forest forced Longwood to turn the ball over 24 times in the game including 14 in the second half. It helped result in 25 points off turnovers.
Straight From Forbes
“First, I really want to thank Mako Medical for sponsoring this classic. We were just really excited to get to play this week, and they gave us the opportunity to do that through their sponsorship and through the testing, making it a safe environment for everybody to play in. So my hat’s off to them, and Wake Forest University, and Graylyn, for hosting the teams and keeping everybody safe and sound.
“A lot different game tonight, obviously, than it was on Wednesday. I was very proud of the way our team punched back. After we were down five I think I called a timeout. They had the momentum, and I thought we punched back, stayed together, and took the lead and never looked back. We made a halftime adjustment, it wasn’t a big adjustment, but one of the things about playing hard is you can’t get too extended defensively. And Longwood did a great job of running their offense with great pace, they obviously had guys who could put it on the bounce. We got too extended in the first half, especially on the ball screen, and then they were getting downhill on us. We backed it up in the second half to the three point line, and constricted the ball and got in the gaps, and we forced a lot of turnovers stripping and ripping that we did not get in the first half. We backed up in the ice, and played a little bit more drop coverage.
“We were 4-10 from three in the second half, I thought Jonah made some big shots to kind of break it open. I know they shot 52 percent but we forced 24 turnovers. That’s one of the anomalies I was talking about. When you play pressure defense, sometimes a team is going to shoot a little bit higher percentage, but if you can turn them over then you’re getting the ball back. And so we got 24 turnovers, I thought we were really good on our special teams. I thought Jalen made a big play on a timeout; we went to him on an iso on an out of bounds play, and he scored. I think the most important thing is we stayed together. We had some adversity, it’s the first time we’d had it. And I thought our body language, I thought our communication in the huddle was outstanding. We had a lot of guys play again and contribute. And so all in all, it was a good night.”
Up Next
The Deacs continue non-conference play next week with a Wednesday afternoon match-up against the Troy Trojans at 4 p.m. inside LJVM Coliseum on Wednesday, Dec. 2.
The game will air on ACC Network.
