Wake Forest comes up short at UNC
CHAPEL HILL – Wake Forest never led in a road game against North Carolina.
The Deacons did just about everything short of that, though.
UNC beat the visiting Deacons 87-84 on Saturday night at the Smith Center.
Nate Calmese had a long 3-pointer at the buzzer that would’ve tied the game, but it was off. It was only the second miss of the second half for the senior point guard; he had 28 points, 22 in the second half when he was 8-for-10.
The Deacons (10-7, 1-3 ACC) also got a 28-point game out of Juke Harris. He and Calmese combined to make 10 of Wake’s 14 3-pointers.
Wake Forest never led. The game was tied at 2-2 but UNC scoring 10 points on its first four possessions set the tone of the evening.
UNC (14-2, 2-1) led by 15 with less than 10 minutes left. The Deacons held the Tar Heels without a field goal for about seven minutes, going on a 17-3 run to tighten up the game.
Wake Forest had two turnovers when it was down two in the last four minutes. Calmese threw up a prayer of a pass in the middle of the lane that led to a runout dunk; a few possessions later, Mekhi Mason rocketed a pass over the head of a cutting Cooper Schwieger for the other one.
Wake’s other late-game gaffe was Harris failing to secure a rebound after UNC missed a free throw. The ball went out of bounds off his hand when it was a three-point deficit with about 25 seconds left.
The Deacons had trouble with UNC’s frontcourt duo of Caleb Wilson and Henri Veesaar. They combined for 47 points on 17-for-19 shooting, along with 21 rebounds.
The first half matched up with the cliché — it’s a game of runs. The Tar Heels’ 9-0 run across four minutes made it 16-4; Wake Forest answered with three 3s, two by Harris, for a 9-0 spurt that took less than a minute.
UNC had other runs of 7-0 and 6-0 in the first half. The Deacons stayed within shouting distance of the lead, thanks in large part to eight 3s.
