Article by Dan Tortora / Photo by Dan Tortora Broadcast Media, LLC
The Syracuse Orange and Wake Forest Demon Deacons a just a few days removed from having seen one another, that happening on Saturday, March 4th, a 72-63 win at home.
Syracuse's victory over Wake Forest moved them back to the 8th-seed in the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) Tournament, and moved Wake Forest to the 9th-seed, giving them a rematch here on Wednesday, March 8th, at the Greensboro Coliseum.
The Demon Deacons began the game on a 4-0 run.
Syracuse would respond with a leaner in the lane by true freshman point guard Judah Mintz, followed by a wide open three in the left corner by true freshman forward Chris Bell to give the Orange their first lead of the day, 5-4.
Bell would pull down an offensive rebound and give sophomore forward Benny Williams a second chance from beyond the arc, which he sent through the net, followed by another three, doubling the Orange offense to that of the Demon Deacons, 16-8, with 11:36 remaining in the opening half.
Syracuse started this game 4-for-5 from three-point range, with Williams and Bells each going 2-for-2.
Wake Forest would go on an 11-0 run to cut the Syracuse lead to one, 22-21.
Senior guard Joe Girard, III, would snap that run with a step-back three that moved the Orange out to a two-possession lead, 25-21.
On the other end, graduate guard Daivien Williamson would make his three-point attempt and be fouled by Orange true freshman guard Quadir Copeland, completing the four-point play at the line to get within one possession of the Orange, down 27-25.
Syracuse senior point guard Symir Torrence would commit a foul at the top of the key, giving Wake Forest graduate guard Tyree Appleby a 1-&-1 opportunity, to which he would make both, tying the game at 29.
The Orange would break the tie immediately with senior center Jesse Edwards working inside for two, but junior forward Andrew Carr would dunk it home to tie the contest once again, this time at 31-apiece.
Syracuse would score twice more inside 1:30 before half, both by Mintz, but Appleby would get the last word of the first half on his layup with 36 seconds remaining.
There would be three lead changes and three ties in the first half.
However, the Orange would not trail for more than 15 of the 20 allotted minutes of the first half, taking a 35-33 lead into the break.
The entire starting five for Syracuse got on the board in the first half: Williams with 10, Bell with eight, Mintz with seven, Girard with six, and Edwards with two. Their bench had two points from Copeland, with Torrence and true freshman forward Maliq Brown coming away with no points.
Wake Forest's starting five also all scored in the opening half: Freshman forward Bobi Klintman with 10, Appleby with eight, Williamson with six, Carr with four, and sophomore guard Cameron Hildreth with two. Of their two bench players, sophomore guard Lucas Taylor and sophomore forward/center Matthew Marsh, Taylor had three points.
Hildreth brought the game to another tie, this coming on his take to the rim on the Demon Deacons' first play of the second half.
Wake Forest would score on their next possession as well, this coming in the paint by Carr to give the Demon Deacons' their first lead since the 15:47 mark of the first half, a span of almost 17 minutes either trailing or tied with the Orange.
Bell would connect from long range immediately after, giving Syracuse the lead back, 38-37.
However, inside 15 minutes to play, Wake Forest was on a 15-7 run to start the second half, moving ahead of Syracuse 48-42.
With 13:33 to play, the Demon Deacons got out to a 12-point advantage, 54-42, after back-to-back three-balls.
Syracuse went on a scoring drought, having not made a field goal since the 17:22 mark of the second half, a span of 5:22 and counting at the media timeout that came with 12 minutes left.
Edwards made two free throws within this time, Syracuse's only points in the span.
With a 56-43 lead, the Demon Deacons had out-scored the Orange 23-8 in the second half.
A three by Mintz with 10:34 remaining would be Syracuse's first field goal in almost seven minutes, going back to the 17:22 mark.
Edwards would get two inside for the Orange shortly after, but would follow by picking up his fourth foul of the game on the very next Demon Deacons' possession, heading out of the contest with 9:22 to play, resulting in sophomore center Mounir Hima checking in for the first time.
A three by Williams and a steal right after by Mintz and make at the rim brought Syracuse within two possessions, down 58-52, with 8:55 on the game clock.
Copeland would make both free throws of his 1-&-1 attempt and then force a turnover by the Demon Deacons on the attempted inbounds play.
Girard would connect from long distance on the heels of that stop by Copeland, and the Orange were within one, 58-57.
Copeland would be called for a foul with a body on Appleby on the next attempted inbounds play by Wake Forest and Appleby would make both free throws in his 1-&-1 attempt.
Syracuse would answer, courtesy of Williams getting a rebound off of his miss and putting the ball back up for a make plus the free throw to tie the match-up at 60-apiece.
Klintman would have other plans, however, cashing in his long-range deposit right after Williams old-fashioned three-point play, giving the Demon Deacons a three-point lead, 63-60.
Copeland would create another turnover, stealing the ball away and getting fouled, making both of his free throws to bring the Orange within one, 63-62.
Hildreth scored on the next three possessions for Wake Forest, a jumper from inside and outside the arc and a layup, while Edwards scored inside off the right side of the glass on back-to-back possessions for Syracuse, making it a two-possession game, 70-66 Wake Forest.
Mintz would make it three-straight possessions with field goals for the Orange, sending home his second three-ball of the day, shrinking the Demon Deacons' lead to one, 70-69.
Almost a minute later, Williamson would make a layup, watiing underneath the basket in transition to raise Wake Forest up to a 72-69 lead with 2:39 remaining.
Mintz went to the rim and Williams made his third deep ball of the day to give the Orange their first lead since the 17:08 mark of the second half, a span of over 16 minutes, gaining the lead with 59 seconds to play, ahead 74-72.
A turnaround jumper by Hildreth would tie the game at 74.
Girard would miss his attempt with seven seconds on the clock, and Williamson would not, making a three with 00.5 seconds left.
The heave would head no where as Wake Forest would avenge their loss less than a week ago to Syracuse, moving on to face the 1st-seeded Miami Hurricanes in the ACC Tournament quarterfinals on Thursday, March 9th, at NoonET.
With the loss, the Orange season comes to an end at 17-15.
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