Miami makes plays at end, beats Wake Forest
WINSTON-SALEM – Down to the wire, Wake Forest went for the second straight ACC home game.
This time the Deacons weren’t the ones to make the clutch plays at the end.
Miami scored the last four points of an 81-77 win against host Wake Forest on Wednesday night at Joel Coliseum.
Wake Forest (10-6, 1-2 ACC) went on an 8-0 run to lead 70-65 with about five minutes left.
Everything went haywire for the Deacons in the next few minutes, though, and Miami (13-2, 2-0) scored the next 10 points.
Juke Harris made a mid-range jumper to snap Wake’s scoring drought. And then a backcourt turnover set him up for a 3-pointer, which he drilled to tie the game at 75-75 with 1:47 left.
In the next minute, Malik Reneau went 1-for-2 at the free-throw line twice, while Harris made a couple of free throws.
After Wake Forest committed a turnover in the backcourt, Reneau missed a 3-pointer. But Shelton Henderson made a put-back with 26 seconds left that proved to be the difference.
Harris missed two free throws with 11 seconds left, and Miami’s Tre Donaldson put the game on ice with a pair of free throws in the final seconds.
Miami had 13 offensive rebounds and had 17 second-chance points. Wake Forest only had four offensive rebounds and seven points off of them; the Deacons’ first offensive rebound came with less than 10 minutes remaining.
Neither team created separation on the scoreboard for the whole game.
In the first half, the biggest lead for either side was Wake Forest going up 17-10 after about seven minutes. Miami scored the next six points and the teams went back and forth from there.
The Hurricanes scored the last six points of the first half to take a 39-38 lead into halftime.
