Wake Forest dispatches Northeastern
WINSTON-SALEM – Wake Forest had to grind for its Black Friday conquest against Northeastern.
The Deacons had enough in the tank for an 86-73 win against the Huskies at Joel Coliseum.
Wake Forest (6-2) won its 40th straight non-conference home game in the regular season behind 17 points from both Juke Harris and Tre’Von Spillers, 13 points from Sebastian Akins off the bench and 11 from Myles Colvin (also off the bench).
Northeastern (3-4) never led in the first half but when it scored on the first possession of the second half, the Huskies were up 46-45.
That was their only lead.
The Deacons answered with eight straight points. There was a bucket by Spillers, a three-point play by Harris and a 3-pointer by Mekhi Mason.
Wake Forest pulled away amid a stretch in which Northeastern committed nine turnovers in 11 possessions. Northeastern committed 13 of its 22 turnovers in the second half.
The Deacons committed 17 turnovers, which obviously isn’t a great number. But the difference in points off turnovers — 26-7 for Wake Forest — jumps off the page.
Wake Forest scored its first four possessions of the game and never trailed. But the Deacons also never separated from Northeastern in the same way they pulled away from Campbell on Tuesday night.
Wake’s largest lead of the first half was nine, at 33-24.
The Deacons had as much to do with their shortcomings as Northeastern did. Wake Forest had 10 first-half turnovers, removing scoring chances for a team that shot 16-for-25 in the first half.
Northeastern scored in the last 10 seconds of the first half to make it 45-44. Akins raced up the court and made a floater from just inside the arc — but a lengthy review resulted in an overturned call, so Wake’s lead was one at halftime.
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