Wake Forest survives in OT
CHARLOTTE – Wake Forest played into the night in the first round of the ACC tournament.
The Deacons will come back for a game even later Wednesday night after outlasting Virginia Tech 95-89 in overtime on Tuesday night at Spectrum Center.
Myles Colvin led the Deacons with 18 points, including a stretch of nine straight Wake Forest points between the end of regulation and the start of the extra session. The Deacons never trailed in OT and scored 20 points in the additional five minutes.
Wake Forest (17-15) will face 5-seed Clemson in the late game on Wednesday night. The winner of that one will face 4-seed North Carolina on Thursday night in the quarterfinal round.
Wake Forest led by four at halftime. The Hokies’ first lead came about four minutes into the second half, though, and the game stayed tight the rest of the way.
The Deacons led by seven with about five minutes left. The Hokies tied it on Jailen Bedford’s 3-pointer with 2:42 left. Wake’s two possessions before that were Omaha Biliew fumbling the ball out of bounds after a press break and the Deacons missing two shots.
A possession after Bedford tied it, Sebastian Akins missed two free throws.
The Deacons tied it on a Myles Colvin layup and then led 75-73 when he made a couple of free throws, the product of a flagrant foul on Tobi Lawal.
VT’s Tyler Johnson tied the game with free throws with 47 seconds left. The Hokies missed two shots on the last possession before OT.
Wake Forest never trailed in the first half.
That had a lot to do with 10 turnovers by the Hokies in the first half. That’s part of what the Deacons had to do — they forced 19 in their win against VT earlier this year, and only five in the loss.
And Wake’s 38-34 lead at halftime was in spite of VT’s 11 offensive rebounds, which led to 13 second-chance points. That one is hardly shocking, as Wake Forest has struggled to rebound opponents’ misses for most of the season.
Injury news benefited the Deacons twofold. Wake Forest got point guard Nate Calmese back, while VT was without center Amani Hansberry.
