Wake Forest University
Richmond
No. 18 Wake Forest Tops Richmond, 81-66
12/6/2003 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Dec 6, 2003
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By AARON BEARD
Associated Press Writer
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - Four days after cruising to a lopsided win over Indiana, Wake Forest had to grind out a victory against a pesky underdog.
Eric Williams, Taron Downey and Chris Paul each scored 17 points Saturday to lead the 18th-ranked Demon Deacons to an 81-66 victory over Richmond. Jamaal Levy scored 12 points for Wake Forest (5-0), which shot 55 percent in the second half to pull away to its 20th straight home win.
Richmond (4-3) used a zone defense to slow the pace of the game early, resulting in a season-low scoring output for Wake Forest. But the Demon Deacons hit 20 of 24 free throws and some big 3-pointers in a game that featured two technical fouls, two ejections and a near-tussle in the first half.
"I think we probably needed a game like that," Wake Forest coach Skip Prosser said. "We obviously didn't play as well as we would've liked. ... And yet we still had five guys in double figures (and) shot free throws well when we needed to."
Mike Skrocki scored 21 points to lead the Spiders, who shot 32 percent in the second half.
After leading by two points at halftime, the Demon Deacons got some breathing room with an 8-2 run midway through the second half. Leading 53-52, Paul and Justin Gray each scored four points, with Paul getting a hanging layup on the baseline and stealing the ball from Skrocki for another layup in the backcourt.
Two free throws by Gray made it 61-54 with 7:20 to go.
The Demon Deacons pushed the lead to 66-57 when Paul inbounded the ball to Levy, who gave it right back to Paul for a layup.
"Coach all week had been talking about teams coming in our house like it was a robbery, and we don't want to let a team come in and take our pride and lose a game at home," said Paul, who had eight assists and five steals for the second straight game.
Richmond got no closer than six points the rest of the way. The Spiders closed the gap to one point three times in the second half, but the Demon Deacons answered with scores to stay ahead.
 Justin Gray (1) reacts in the closing seconds of Wake Forest's 81-66 win over Richmond.  | |
Wake Forest finally found its range late, getting three straight 3s from Gray and Paul to take a 77-64 lead with 2:14 to go.
"We were open for shots and we know we can hit them," said Downey, who went 3-for-8 from behind the arc. "It was just a matter of concentrating and knocking them down."
After going 1-for-8 on 3s in the first half, the Demon Deacons went 6-of-14 from behind the arc after halftime. Richmond went 3-for-13 on 3s in the second half, and coach Jerry Wainright said his team showed poor shot selection when the game was close after halftime.
"They did a good job of breaking it open by making shots," he said. "And we didn't answer."
Gray finished with 10 points despite spraining his left ankle with 6:42 left in the first half.
Richmond frustrated the Demon Deacons early with the zone. Wake Forest, which came into the game shooting 43 percent from 3-point range, missed its first seven tries from behind the arc and shot 41 percent in the half.
Richmond clung to a 24-22 lead until tempers flared late in the half. After being whistled for a traveling violation with 4:34 left, Richmond's Daon Merritt hit Paul with an elbow, knocking the freshman to the ground. Levy retaliated with a hip check, knocking down Merritt.
Officials reviewed a replay of the incident before issuing technical fouls to Merritt and Levy, and ejecting Trent Strickland and Todd Hendley for coming off the Wake Forest bench.
Wake Forest took a 32-28 lead on a jumper and 3-pointer from Downey in the final minutes and led 34-32 at halftime.
