Wake Forest University
Appalachian State
Wake Forest Cruises Past Appalachian State
11/25/2005 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Nov. 25, 2005
Final Stats | Quotes | Notes
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (AP) - Trent Strickland scored a career-high 25 points to lead No. 24 Wake Forest past Appalachian State 91-78 on Friday night.
Justin Gray added 19 points for the Demon Deacons (5-1), who extended the nation's fifth-longest home winning streak with their 20th straight victory. Wake Forest has also won 50 of its last 51 home games against nonconference opponents.
D.J. Thompson scored 20 points to lead the Mountaineers (2-1).
Wake Forest had won the previous 18 meetings by an average margin of 22 points, and it appeared that form would hold. The Demon Deacons shot 64 percent to build a 16-point halftime lead and led by 21 shortly after the break, but they couldn't put away the pesky Mountaineers until the final 5 minutes.
Strickland hit his first seven shots, the last being a 3-pointer that bounced high in the air off the rim and dropped in for a 69-52 lead with 12:45 left in the game. He finished 8-for-11 and hit all seven of his free throws.
Thompson, who came in averaging 25 points, also put on a good show. The 5-foot-8 point guard scored several baskets by beating defenders in transition or off the dribble and made five 3-pointers. He also had five rebounds and six assists.
But unlike Strickland, Thompson didn't get a lot of help from his teammates. Both P.L. Henderson and Nathan Cranford scored only three of 11 points after the break, while Eduardo Bermudez finished with 10.
Meanwhile, Gray also had eight assists and his own 10-0 run in the first half that restored a double-digit lead. Eric Williams had 14 points and 10 rebounds, and Kyle Visser added 11 points and nine boards.
Wake Forest controlled the first 20 minutes with its offense, but failed to put the game away early due to poor free-throw shooting and spotty defense. The Demon Deacons shot just 11-for-20 from the line and allowed the Mountaineers to score on nine of 12 possessions midway through the half, cutting an 11-point deficit to 30-27 on Henderson's three-point play.
With his team leading by five, Gray single-handedly increased the lead with his 90-second, 10-point run. He knocked down a pair of jumpers and a 3-pointer, then closed with a pull-up 3 in transition after a turnover for a 45-30 lead with 3:53 left in the half.
That lead grew to 64-43 on an inside score from Williams with 17:15 left, but the Mountaineers kept chipping away at the lead. They got as close as 80-70 on a pair of free throws from Thompson, but Wake Forest answered with two free throws from Strickland and a 3-pointer from Harvey Hale that pushed the margin back to 15 with 3 1/2 minutes left.
