Syracuse holds off Wake Forest
SYRACUSE, N.Y. » Tyus Battle missed a slam dunk early in the second half for Syracuse. He didn’t miss much else against Wake Forest. attle scored 34 points, Oshae Brissett added 15 points and 10 rebounds, and the Orange held offthe Demon Deacons 78-70 on Sunday.
The sophomore guard started the game by scoring Syracuse’s first seven points, then after the break scored 24 on 6-for-8 shooting and made all 11 free throws he attempted to help the Orange (178, 6-6Atlantic Coast Conference) to an important victory.
Battle hit two free throws with 27 seconds left and followed that with a fast-break slam 12 seconds later after a block by Paschal Chukwu to secure the win. Wake Forest (9-16, 2-11 ACC) had erased most of a 14-point deficit and pulled within 65-63 on a layup by Bryant Crawford with 4:24 left to set up a tight finish.
“They got really hot, but that says a lot about our team,” said Battle, who missed that dunk on the Orange’s second possession of the second half. “We knew they were going to make a run. Just had to keep on playing and weather their storm.”
The Demon Deacons have won only twice since Dec. 18, but one of those victories came against Syracuse. Not on this day as the Demon Deacons fell to 0-7 on the road in conference play.
The difference in this one came at the free-throw line. Syracuse was 26 of 39 in an aggressive showing and Wake Forest 12 of 14 as the Demon Deacons were called for 26 fouls to 12 on the Orange. Battle alone attempted 13 free throws.
“We won this game because we got to the foul line 39 times, because we’re driving the ball, making them commit fouls,” Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim said. “If we made our free throws, wewould have won by 10 or 12 points.”
During Wake Forest’s seven-game skid in January, four of the losses were by double- digit margins. The Demon Deacons made this one close but ran out of time.
“I thought in the second half we came out and did a much better job moving the basketball, creating shot opportunities,” Wake Forest coach Danny Man- ning said. “That gave us a chance to get back into the game.”
Frank Howard had 12 points and nine assists with one turnover and Chukwu had seven points, 11 rebounds and three blocks for the Orange.
Crawford led Wake Forest with 24 points, Doral Moore had 16 points and 16 rebounds, and Mitchell Wilbekin had 13 points, all in the second half on 4-of-5 shooting from long range.
“I thought we did a better job of sharing the ball and also being aggressive,” Wilbekin said. “A lot of times in that zone you get so passive. Wish we could have made a couple more. If we could play both halves like that, we would be OK.”
After a miserable first half shooting from behind the arc, the Demon Deacons regrouped and torched the Orange for six 3-pointers in a span of just over three minutes to get back in a game they had trailed by 14 near the midpoint of the second half.
Wilbekin had four of the 3s and was fouled on the last one. His foul shot completed a four-point play and narrowed the Orange lead to 61-55 with 7:35 left.
A baseline runner by Keyshawn Woods, a slam dunk by Moore, and a layup by Crawford narrowed the gap to 65-63 with 4:19 to go.
Two free throws by Battle gave Syracuse a five-point lead with 3:15 left, but the Orange missed five straight free throws to give Wake Forest one more chance before Battle took charge in the final minute.