Wake Forest University
William & Mary
Wake Forest Falls to William & Mary, 78-68
11/28/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Nov. 28, 2009
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WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - Al-Farouq Aminu had the best performance on the boards for Demon Deacons since the 2005-06 season, but it wasn't enough to push Wake Forest to victory as the team fell 78-68 to William & Mary on Saturday night.
The loss sets the Wake Forest record to 4-1, and William & Mary improves to 4-2.
Freshman C.J. Harris led both teams in scoring with 17 points, marking his third consecutive double-figure scoring effort. Aminu registered his third double-double of the season with 11 points and 20 rebounds and Ishmael Smith put up his fifth career double-double with 12 points and 11 assists.
David Schneider and Danny Sumner each put up the Tribe team-high 16 points and Schneider and Marcus Kitts each posted 10 caroms.
The teams were nearly even in turnovers (11-10), blocks (4-4) and steals (6-7). The game fate was determined by shooting, of which William & Mary held the percentage advantage across the board. The Tribe shot 44 percent from the field, 41 percent from the 3-point line and 77 percent from the charity stripe. The Deacons were 35 percent from the field, 27 percent from the 3-point line and 50 percent from the free throw line.
"10 turnovers, I'll take that in any game. We just missed too many shots," said head coach Dino Gaudio.
"It was a difficult loss for us. When it all came down to it we did a good job guarding their actions but they beat us off the bounce, they beat us one-on-one. When we're playing a team like that we've got to exert our will on the inside and we didn't do that."
The first half proved to be a frustrating one for the Deacons, who trailed the Tribe by one or two possessions into the final five minutes. Wake Forest struggled to find a shooting rhythm, going 8-for-32 from the floor and 3-for-13 from the 3-point line.
A 3-pointer from C.J. Harris tied the score at 11-11 at 9:22, but William & Mary continued to push forward and a David Schneider layup followed by a 3-point basket from Quinn McDowell returned the advantage to the Tribe.
At 4:19 David Schneider hit a trey to put the Tribe up 18-24. A couple of Deacon fouls returned the ball to William & Mary put up back-to-back baskets, including a 3-pointer from John Mark Ludwick, giving the Tribe an 11 point lead with 2:56 to play in the half.
C.J. Harris hit two shots from the free throw line to set the halftime score at 31-22 in favor of the Tribe.
With 2:24 left in regulation a pair of free throws from Marcus Kitts gave William & Mary its largest lead of the game, a 14 point advantage (48-62). The Deacons looked to stage a rally in the final two minutes, as 3-pointers from Harris and Ari Stewart cut the Tribe lead to two possessions (58-64), with 1:12 to play.
Schneider added a free throw and Aminu countered with a dunk to cut the lead to 60-65 just under the minute mark.
The teams exchanged baskets but Schneider drew a foul with 15 seconds to play and landed both free throws to set the score at 76-68, putting the comeback win out of reach for Wake Forest. Schneider added two more free throws at the six second mark to set the final score.
Wake Forest will continue play on the road, facing 6th-ranked Purdue for the ACC/Big Ten Challenge on December 1. The game will be televised on ESPN.
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