Wake Forest Defeats Winston-Salem State 88-56 in Winston-Salem Tipoff Classic

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - The Wake Forest men's basketball team defeated cross-town rival Winston-Salem State 88-56 on Friday evening.

The Demon Deacons had a strong outing on both sides of the basketball, limiting the Rams to shooting just 21-of-62 (34%) from the field while shooting an efficient 30-of-59 (51%) themselves, including 10-of-25 (40%) from beyond the arc. Eighteen of Wake Forest's 31 field goals were assisted upon.

On the defensive end, the Demon Deacons blocked eight shots, grabbed nine steals and forced the Rams into committing 15 turnovers. Wake Forest was also strong on the glass, as they out-rebounded Winston-Salem State 47-31, including nine on the offensive glass.

Junior forward Jake LaRavia and graduate guard Alondes Williams put together impressive debut performances. LaRavia stuffed the stat sheet as he recorded a double-double (16 points and 10 rebounds), tied a team-high with four assists, blocked four shots and grabbed a steal in 27 minutes of action.

Williams tied LaRavia in scoring with 16 points of his own which included a pair of thunderous dunks and three-pointers. Williams finished with a pair of blocks, steals and assists as well.

Freshman Cameron Hildreth finished his collegiate debut with four points (2-of-2 shooting), five rebounds, four assists, a block and a steal.

Freshman Carter Whitt and graduate Khadim Sy also finished in double figures, each scoring 12 points. Whitt finished a perfect 4-for-4 (3-of-3 from deep) and Sy finished a perfect 6-of-6 from the free throw line along with six rebounds and three assists.

How It Happened

Alondes Williams finished an alley-oop from Jake LaRavia to put the Deacs on the board a minute into the contest.
- That kicked off a 7-0 run to start the game capped off by a 3-pointer from Daivien Williamson with 17:53 to play in the first half.
Wake Forest held Winston-Salem State to 3-of-15 shooting and forced four turnovers over the opening eight minutes of the game, and led the Rams 15-6 going into the under-12 timeout.
Carter Whitt knocked down a triple and a jumper on consecutive possessions to give the Deacs a double digit (21-8) lead with 10:02 remaining in the opening period.
Alondes Williams and Isaiah Mucius knocked down back-to-back 3-pointers to bring the Wake Forest lead to 27-13 going into the under-8 timeout.
LaRavia forced a Ram turnover and drained shots in the post on consecutive possessions giving the Deacs a 31-15 lead with 6:57 to play in the first half.
Freshman Robert McCray and Williams thundered down back-to-back dunks to give the Deacs a 43-22 lead with 1:34 remaining in the opening period.
The Demon Deacons shot an efficient 50% (17-for-34) from the field in the first half and entered the intermission leading the Rams 45-26. Eleven of the Deacs' 17 made shots were assisted on.
- Alondes Williams led the first-half scoring effort with 14 points on 5-for-9 shooting. Carter Whitt (3-of-3 shooting) and Jake LaRavia (4-of-5 shooting) chipped in nine and eight points, respectively.
- Defensively, Wake Forest held Winston-Salem State to 29 percent shooting (9-31) from the field and only 13 percent (2-15) from three-point range.
- LaRavia also paced the Deacs in blocks (three) and rebounds (six). Alondes Williams also chipped in one block for the Demon Deacons as the squad in the first half doubled up the Rams in blocks (four versus two).
After the Rams connected on a triple, Wake Forest embarked on a 9-0 run featuring two layups from LaRavia, Williams' third dunk, and Williamson's second 3-pointer.
- That run gave the Deacs a 55-32 lead with 16:37 left to play in the contest.
A Khadim Sy layup kicked off a 10-0 run that extended the Wake Forest lead to 31 (65-34) with 12:33 remaining.
- Sy scored six points during the run, four of which came at the charity stripe. Carter Whitt drained his third triple during the run..
Khadim Sy's layup ended a 6-0 Winston-Salem State run, giving him eight points and Wake Forest a 73-45 advantage with 6:53 to play.
- A minute later, Sy slammed home a dunk to reach double figures on the night.
Robert McCray knocked down his first 3-pointer of the night off an assist from Sy to bring the lead to 79-52 with 4:06 left in the contest.
Wake Forest won the contest, 88-56.

Coach's Comments
"Thanks to Winston-Salem State for playing tonight. It was awesome to get underneath the lights and play again in front of our fans in the arena. I thought Winston-Salem State played really hard, they played scrappy, and they played with quick hands. They can really drive the ball and it really caused some matchup issues for us once in a while because we have a bigger team. It put us in some stressful situations that I thought were good for us. We adjusted a little bit during the game and I'm proud of the team for being able to switch ball screen coverages. We shared the ball pretty well, we had 18 assists on 30 baskets and that's the way we like to play. I wasn't very pleased with the rebounding in the first half, but we did better in the second. The turnover situation was going in the right direction until we subbed late and those guys didn't take care of the ball. That will be a precursor to playing time as will being able to defend and rebound. All in all, we had a lot of guys that played tonight and we got out of it what we needed to get out of it." head coach Steve Forbes

Up Next
Wake Forest officially opens the 2021-22 regular season Wednesday, November 10th at LJVM Coliseum against William & Mary.

Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. and the game will stream live on ACC Network Extra.

Wake Forest Defeats Winston-Salem State 88-56 in Winston-Salem Tipoff Classic

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Cameron Hildreth

Jake LaRavia

Robert McCray

Isaiah Mucius

Khadim Sy

Carter Whitt

Alondes Williams

Daivien Williamson

Wake Forest Athletics