Another close game, but another close loss.
It was unfortunately the same old song and dance for the Wake Forest Demon Deacons. The Deacs were in another close ACC game, but could not seal the deal as the Deacs lost 82-76 in double-overtime. Wake Forest had a golden opportunity to win the game at the end of the first overtime, but Mitchell Wilbekin's three-pointer went in-and-out.
The Demon Deacons started the game somewhat sluggish and had a 6-4 lead, but then the Deacs went on a 9-0 run behind two three pointers from Cornelius Hudson put the Deacs out to a 15-4 lead that caused Leonard Hamilton to use his first timeout. The lineup of Andre Washington, Konstantinos Mitoglou, Cornelius Hudson, Madison Jones and Aaron Rountree. The starters came in and promptly allowed 4 unanswered points which cause Danny Manning to take a timeout.
Florida State cut Wake's lead to 6, but then Cornelius Hudson hit two more big thee-pointers to extend Wake's lead back up to 12. At a time when the offense was very stagnant, his shooting stroke was much needed. Wake Forest took a 33-27 lead into halftime.
The Deacs headed to the under-16 timeout with a 41-38 lead. Wake did a very poor job defensively during the first four minutes and the Seminoles were able to get far too many easy shots around the basket after penetration. FSU eventually went on an 8-0 run and Manning called a timeout with the Deacs trailing 46-43. Dinos then hit a much needed three.
Wake took a 53-50 lead into the under-8 timeout. Cornelius Hudson was huge in that stretch. Codi Miller-McIntyre was sensational down the stretch of regulation. He finished the second half with 15 points, including four clutch shots.
Wake Forest nearly won at the end of the first overtime on a Mitchell Wilbekin three-pointer. Wake was up 75-72 at one point in the second overtime, but the Seminoles ended the game on a 10-1 run to win the game 82-76. The critical series of events was a Xavier Rathan-Mayes jumper with 38 seconds and then Codi Miller-McIntyre turned it over at the 30 second mark. It was a blemish in an otherwise very strong game for Codi.
Codi Miller-McIntyre finished the night with 25 points, Cornelius Hudson finished with 18 points, 9 rebounds and 3 steals. Devin Thomas had 12 points and 12 rebounds.
The Seminoles were led by Xavier Rathan-Mayes, who finished with 21 points. Phil Cofer had 19 points, while Devon Bookert had 15 points.
Wake Forest won the rebounding battle 44-39, and had 10 turnovers to Florida State's 11, but were blocked 9 times by FSU. Those blocked shots helped lead to a FG% of just 34.3%. FSU shot 46.6% from the field.
The close losses are certainly painful, but there's no denying the improvement. The past four years we were hardly ever close on the road, and this past three ACC games the Deacs have been highly competitive and just had a few possessions not go their way.
Wake Forest (9-12, 1-7) will host Virginia Tech on Saturday at 2 p.m. Virginia Tech is coming off their first ACC win. Florida State (11-10, 3-5) will host Miami on Sunday.
