Wake Forest University
Indiana
Deacons Down No. 13 Indiana 82-78 in Maui Opener
11/23/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Nov. 23, 2015
By Wake Forest Athletic Communications (@TieDyeNation)
LAHAINA, Hawaii -- A pair of last-minute baskets by freshman Bryant Crawford helped cap a late rally that lifted the Wake Forest men's basketball team to an 82-78 win over No. 13 Indiana in the team's opening game at the Maui Jim Maui Invitational on Monday at the Lahaina Civic Center.
The win was the Demon Deacons' first against a ranked opponent since they defeated No. 4 Duke on March 5, 2014. They are now 3-1 on the season.
With his team trailing 77-76, Crawford drove to his left for a go-ahead layup with 24.7 seconds to play. Indiana's Troy Williams retied the score by making one-of-two free throws down the other end with 13.1 seconds left, but Crawford came through again, this time driving to his right for the eventual game-winning bucket with 3.2 seconds on the clock.
Devin Thomas led five Deacs to score in double figures with 21 points on the day, 13 of which came in the second half.
The opening 20 minutes was a back-and-forth affair that featured seven lead changes. Konstantinos Mitoglou scored 18 points on eight-of-nine shooting from the field and added a team-best seven rebounds to guide Wake Forest to a 50-45 halftime lead.
A Thomas layup out of the intermission gave Wake Forest its biggest lead at 52-45, but Indiana went on a 9-0 run and got the lead back with 15:57 to play. Later, with the score tied at 63, the Hoosiers again scored nine-consecutive points over a 1:42 span to take a 72-63 lead with 7:34 to play.
From there, the Deacs heated up and ended the game on a 19-6 run. A John Collins layup with 2:03 to go pulled Wake Forest within one, setting up Crawford's heroics.
After Crawford put the Deacons up, 80-78, Collins intercepted a long Hoosier inbounds pass and hit both of his free throw attempts to ice the game.
The Demon Deacons outscored the Hoosiers in the paint by a 52-32 margin.
Wake Forest will pick up play in Maui Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. ET with a second-round contest against No. 19 Vanderbilt, which defeated St. John's, 92-55, in its tournament-opening game.
The Deacs finish play in Maui on Wednesday and resume action on the mainland next Monday in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge at Rutgers.
BIG FIRST HALF
• Wake Forest's 50 first-half points were its most in the opening 20 minutes of game since it scored 51 en route to an 88-84 win at home against NC State on Feb. 3, 2015.
• Konstantinos Mitoglou scored all 18 of his points in the first half. He set a new career high for points in a half. His 16 first-half points in games against Syracuse and Miami last season marked his previous best.
ALOHA DEACS
• The Deacons are now 3-4 all-time in Hawaii, last playing there in 1999.
• The Demon Deacons last win on the islands was an 84-78 double-overtime decision over Ohio on Dec. 29, 1999.
AGAINST RANKED FOES
• Wake Forest earned its first ranked win since an 82-72 victory over No. 4 Duke on March 5, 2014 in Winston-Salem.
• Last year, the Deacs were 0-6 against ranked opponents, but three of those losses were by single digits to top-10 squads.
CRASHING THE BOARDS
• Wake Forest outrebounded Indiana, 43-30, on Monday and has opened the season with four-straight games of at least a +10 rebound advantage.
• John Collins led the Deacs with nine boards, while Devin Thomas and Konstantinos Mitoglou each had eight.
