A full game story with quotes and analysis will be available at 6am Sunday morning.
Despite being without key player Damari Monsanto, Wake Forest leaned on Tyree Appleby and Monsanto replacement — Bobi Klintman — to secure a confident 66-58 victory over Notre Dame at home.
Appleby scored 21 points, including an impressive five threes, while Klintman notched a double-double in his first start as a Demon Deacon.
Behind an 8-0 run after the first media timeout, Notre Dame opened the game with a 15-8 lead. With a three-pointer by recently returned Lucas Taylor — who hadn’t made an appearance since a mid-December game against App State — the Deacs cut the lead down to two midway through the first half.
After a 5-0 mini-run from the Irish to take a seven-point lead, Wake Forest nailed back-to-back threes via Appleby and Taylor, bringing the deficit to just one at the under-eight timeout. And with an and-one by Matthew Marsh, the Deacs took their first lead of the game at the 5:51 mark.
Minutes later, a three-pointer from Andrew Carr gave Wake Forest a five-point lead, their biggest lead of the game to that point. From there, the Deacs maintained their modest lead to enter halftime with a 39-36 advantage.
For the first seven minutes of the second half, the three-point Wake Forest lead held true, including a four-minute scoreless stretch for both squads. But, in the span of 30 seconds, the Deacs scored five-straight points to extend the lead to eight, forcing Notre Dame head coach Mike Brey to call a timeout.
With an Appleby three-pointer, Wake Forest extended their lead to 12 at the nine-minute mark, putting Notre Dame’s backs against the wall.
For the next five minutes, the Deacs maintained their healthy lead, and forged ahead even farther behind a brilliant pass from Taylor, which ended in a Carr dunk and a Notre Dame timeout.
Though the Irish made a final push to get back in the game in the dying minutes, Wake Forest’s lead proved to be too big to overcome and the Deacons came away with a much-needed victory.
Wake Forest Team Stats:
21-59 FG (35.6%)
12-33 3PT (36.4%)
42 rebounds, 15 offensive
13 assists
13 turnovers
Notre Dame Team Stats:
21-53 FG (39.6%)
5-20 3PT (25.0%)
32 rebounds, 5 offensive
11 turnovers
Wake Forest Notable Players:
Tyree Appleby: 21 pts, 7-18 FG, 5-12 3PT, 6 ast, 2 TOs
Andrew Carr: 11 pts, 3-8 FG, 7 reb
Bobi Klintman: 10 pts, 4-12 FG, 2-6 3PT, 12 reb
Notre Dame Notable Players:
Ven-Allen Lubin: 19 pts, 9-13 FG, 8 reb
Trey Wertz: 12 pts, 3-10 FG, 6 reb
Cormac Ryan: 12 pts, 4-12 FG, 1-7 3PT, 5 fouls
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