Wake Forest University
Princeton
Deacons Top Princeton 80-66 to Close Non-Conference Slate
12/31/2014 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
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By Jay Garneau, Wake Forest Athletic Communications (@TieDyeNation)
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - Wake Forest wrapped up its non-conference slate with an 80-64 victory over Princeton inside the LJVM Coliseum on the afternoon of New Year's Eve on Tuesday.
Codi Miller-McIntyre narrowly missed the program's first triple-double in nearly 20 years, as he finished with nine points to go along with career-highs of 11 assists and nine rebounds.
Princeton trailed by eight with less than five minutes remaining, but an old-fashioned 3-point play by Devin Thomas put the lead back into double digits for good as Wake Forest closed the game on a 13-5 run.
Five Demon Deacons scored in double figures, led by Konstantinos Mitoglou off the bench. Mitoglou totaled 15 points to go along with seven boards and a pair of blocks.
Thomas was a rebound away from a double-double with 11 points and nine rebounds, while Cornelius Hudson (12 points, seven rebounds) and Mitchell Wilbekin (12 points, five rebounds) also filled up the stat sheet.
Darius Leonard pitched in 10 points, while Madison Jones added six points, three rebounds, three assists and a pair of steals.
During a back-and-forth first half which featured six lead changes and three ties, Wake Forest trailed by three before going on an 11-0 burst to take a 22-14 lead it never relented. Greg McClinton ended the first half with a slam to increase the margin to 32-20 into the break.
Wake Forest pushed its lead to 18 with a 15-4 spurt early in the second half, which included four 3-pointers - two from Mitoglou.
Steven Cook scored six straight points for the Tigers during a 10-0 run in which they cut the deficit to 63-56 with 7:06 to play, but they were unable to get closer than that. Cook led Princeton with a game-high 17 points.
The Demon Deacons dominated the rebounding and transition battles, out-rebounding Princeton 45-27 and holding a 19-5 advantage in fast-break points.
FOR THREE
• Wake Forest hit a season-high 10 3-pointers, surpassing the previous best of eight.
• Konstantinos Mitoglou hit a trio of triples for the second straight game. He's shooting 60 percent (6-of-10) from beyond the arc over those two games.
• Mitchell Wilbekin (3), Darius Leonard (2) and Cornelius Hudson (2) also hit multiple treys.
PROTECTING THE BALL
• Fueled by Codi-Miller McIntyre's 11-assist, two-turnover game, Wake Forest had an assist-to-turnover ratio of better than 2-to-1 (21 assists, 10 turnovers).
•.Wake Forest is 4-1 when finishing with more assists than turnovers.
WELCOME BACK MITCH
• Mitchell Wilbekin returned from a 3-game suspension by the NCAA by scoring in double figures for the third time in his last four games played.
• He has scored at least eight points in eight straight games he has competed in.
ON DECK
• The Demon Deacons head into the conference portion of the schedule, welcoming top-five ACC foes Louisville (Jan. 4, 8 p.m.) and Duke (Jan. 7, 9 p.m.) into the LJVM Coliseum in the next week.
