Wake Forest Athletics
Wake Forest University
High Point
Wake Forest Cruises Past High Point 83-60
11/18/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Nov. 18, 2009
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WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. -- After a neck-and-neck first half, the Wake Forest men's basketball team stifled High Point's perimeter shooting in the final 20 minutes and forged ahead to take an 83-60 victory in Winston-Salem on Wednesday night.
With the win, Wake Forest improves to 3-0 and 2-0 in Winston-Salem while High Point stalls at 1-1.
Sophomore Al-Farouq Aminu led all scorers with 22 points and senior Chas McFarland led both squads on the boards with 12 rebounds. Nick Barbour was the leading scorer for High Point with 15 points and Corey Law had a team-high six rebounds.
Aminu picked up his second double-double of the season with 10 rebounds, 22 points and McFarland registered his first double-double of the year with 11 points, 12 caroms.
High Point's outside game gave Wake Forest big problems in the first half. The Panthers shot 7-for-16 from beyond the arc, keeping the Deacons from pulling ahead.
The Panthers held a two-possession lead through most of the first half, taking their largest lead of nine points at the 11:25 mark. The Demon Deacons finally caught up pulled even just over three minutes before intermission when Ishmael Smith hit a pair of free throws to knot the score at 35-35.
McFarland gave Wake Forest its first lead of the game from the free throw line at the 1:58 mark, inching the Deacons forward 38-37. The teams exchanged baskets, but a High Point turnover with 30 seconds remaining relinquished control to Smith, who let the seconds tick off before setting the halftime score at 42-39 with a layup two seconds before the buzzer.
"We had to make a little adjustment at halftime," said Wake Forest head coach Dino Gaudio. "We said, let's lock onto the driver and let's stay attached to the wings so they can't drive and kick [to the perimeter], which is what they were doing. I thought we did a great job of adjusting,"
"That was the big difference in the game."
The Panthers netted just two 3-point baskets in the second half and couldn't find an inside game to make up for it. High Point shot 24 percent from the field and the Deacons shot 54 percent to build a commanding lead in the final 20 minutes.
Sophomore Tony Woods came charging out of the locker room after halftime and netted Wake Forest's first field goal of the second half to set the Deacons ahead by two possessions for the first time in the contest (44-39). Woods continued with a dunk that woke up the crowd at 18:09, giving Wake Forest a 10-point lead, 49-39.
L.D. Williams kicked off a 16-0 Wake Forest run with 13:55 play with two baskets from the charity stripe. Williams forced a turnover on the next High Point possession and C.J. Harris followed with a dunk to keep the Deacons rolling.
Wake Forest built a 27 point lead with four minutes to go in regulation. Sophomore forward Ryan Keenan, sophomore guard Aaron Ingle and senior guard Phaethon Bolton made their collegiate debuts in the final minutes.
The Demon Deacons will continue local competition as they host Winston-Salem State on November 24 at the LJVM Coliseum. Tip-off is set for 7:30 p.m.
