Wake Forest defeats Syracuse 77-74, move ahead to ACC quarterfinals

Quotes will be added to this article shortly following the conclusion of Wake Forest’s postgame press conference.

Midway through the second half, Wake Forest missed eight-straight three-pointers, but that didn’t matter when the final one of the half was taken. With under a second remaining on the clock, fifth-year senior Daivien Williamson drained a shot from deep to give Wake Forest the 77-74 victory over Syracuse, ending a winless streak at the ACC Tournament that went all the way back to 2017.

Williamson scored a team-high 17 points in the contest, including four threes. He tied Bobi Klintman’s 17, who led the team with 11 rebounds for his second double-double of his young collegiate career.

Following a back-and-forth opening minutes to the game, Syracuse grabbed relative control with a 5-0 run that ended with an offensive rebound and three-pointer. After the defensive error for Wake Forest, head coach Steve Forbes used his first timeout of the day at the 12-minute mark, trailing by five.

Behind a 14-2 stretch for the Orange — including three-straight scores by Benny Williams — Syracuse went on to lead by as much as 12 midway through the first half. But, just when the game looked like it was getting away from Wake Forest, the Deacs seemed to figure out a way through Syracuse’s zone defense. With nine-straight points, Wake Forest narrowed the Orange’s lead to just three at the under-eight timeout.

For the remaining eight minutes of the first half, the largest lead Syracuse took was six, and the game was tied twice. With a strong defensive hold to close the half, Wake Forest entered the locker rooms trailing by just two.

With five-straight points to open the second half, Wake Forest took their first lead since the 15:47 mark of the first on an Andrew Carr jumper. But, Syracuse reclaimed the advantage seconds later on a clean three by sharpshooter Chris Bell.

While Syracuse was able to momentarily jump back ahead with a 6-0 run, Wake Forest didn’t falter, scoring the next nine points, including a Williamson three-pointer, to retake the lead.

Following a Jesse Edwards free throw to end Wake Forest’s torrid run, the Deacons scored the next eight points, including back-to-back three-pointers by Appleby and Williamson to take a 12-point lead and force a Jim Boeheim timeout.

Behind a 14-2 run by the Orange, Syracuse whittled down Wake Forest’s lead to just one point with 7:56 remaining on the clock. With the game tied at 60, the Deacs ended their cold streak from behind the three-point line with a knockdown by Klintman at the end of the shot clock.

With a back-and-forth few minutes, Syracuse and the Deacs remained tight, and Wake Forest held a one-point lead. With a steal by Carr and finish by Williamson, Forbes called a timeout with just over two minutes remaining.

In the final two minutes, Syracuse took the lead with a 5-0 mini-run, punctuated by a Williams three-pointer. But, in desperation, Hildreth knocked down an inside jumper to tie the game. Boeheim called his final timeout with 28.4 seconds left on the clock.

With seven seconds remaining, Joseph Girard missed the game-winning attempt, giving Wake Forest the final shot. Appleby and the Deacs raced down the court, and with less than a second left, Williamson drained the three-pointer to give Wake Forest the win.

Wake Forest now turns their attention to No. 1 seed Miami in the quarterfinals. Tip off is set for 12pm.