Michigan survives Wake Forest in overtime thriller in Detroit

DETROIT, Mich. – The Michigan Wolverines moved to 2-0 on the season with an 85-84 overtime win over Wake Forest on Tuesday night at Little Caesars Arena, home of the NBA’s Detroit Pistons and NHL’s Detroit Red Wings.

Michigan held a 13-point lead at the half, but wound up in a dogfight that needed five extra minutes to play. Junior center Aday Mara led the way with 18 points, 14 rebounds, 6 assists and 5 blocks. Junior guard Elliot Cadeau had 17 points, 8 rebounds and 7 assists.

Here is the blow-by-blow recap from Tuesday night’s contest in Detroit.

First half

Michigan won the opening tip and got on the board 12 seconds into the game on a layup from Morez Johnson Jr., then scored again 90 seconds later after an offensive rebound (4-0, Michigan, 18:22). Wake Forest’s Tre’Von Spillers split a pair of free throws, followed by a three-pointer from Yaxel Lendeborg at 18:11, giving the Wolverines a 7-2 lead early. The Demon Deacons would answer with a 9-0 run that included a pair of triples, and went into the under-16 media timeout (15:56) leading 11-7 over Michigan.

The Wake Forest run was halted by a jumper from Roddy Gayle Jr. at 15:13, which cut the lead to 11-9. Michigan went back in front at the 14:50 mark on another triple, this time from Elliot Cadeau to go up 12-11. Wake answered with another run, a 5-0 burst that put them up 16-12 at the 13:26 mark. Michigan chipped into it with a layup from Aday Mara on an assist from LJ Cason, who was playing his first game action of the season. Wake would lead 18-14 at the under-12 media timeout.

Michigan had a 4-0 scoring burst out of the timeout thanks to a Trey McKenney layup and a Lendeborg fast break dunk, tying the game at 18-all with 10:18 left in the first half. The Wolverines would follow up a Deacon triple with another 4-0 run on layups from Mara and Nimari Burnett, taking the lead back at 22-21 at the 8:04 mark. The score would stay there at the under-8 timeout with 7:54 remaining.

Wake Forest hit a triple at the 7:35 mark to take the lead back at 24-22, which was quickly offset by another scoring run for the Wolverines on a 7-0 spurt on a bucket from Elliot Cadeau, three free throws from him and a pair from Trey McKenney, which helped the Wolverines out to a 29-24 lead with 5:17 to go. Omaha Biliew stopped the run briefly before Michigan rattled off another 5 points in a row on three free throws from Roddy Gayle Jr. and a Mara basket, which stretched U-M’s lead to 34-26 with 3:13 to go. The Wolverines would go on a 13-6 run the rest of the half, and head into the locker room up 47-34 after scoring the last four points of the first 20 minutes.

Michigan 47, Wake Forest 34

Second half

Wake Forest got the second-half scoring started on a pair of foul shots from Mekhi Mason, cutting the U-M lead to 47-36 just 23 seconds into the period. Johnson notched the first points of the half for Michigan on a lob from Burnett, putting the Wolverines ahead 49-36. After a jumper from Mason, Johnson got back on the board with a layup (17:26), followed by a Spillers layup at the other end (16:45). Lendeborg put the lead back up to 13 with a dunk before an 8-0 run from Juke Harris cut Michigan’s lead to 53-48 with 15:06 to go. McKenny ended the scoring run with a pair of free throw makes at the 14:07 mark to help U-M back out to a 55-48 lead.

Nate Calmese hit a triple at 13:49 to trim Michigan’s lead to 4 points (55-51) before Cason spit a pair of free throws at 13:40. Harris got back on the board at 13:15, which cut Michigan’s lead to 56-53. The Wolverines put up a quick 4-0 run on layups from McKenney and Gayle, pushing their advantage back to 7 points at 60-53. Harris hit a pair of free throws after the under-12 timeout for Wake Forest, cutting the Michigan lead to 60-55 with 11:59 remaining.

Sebastian Akins hit a pair of free throws to cut U-M’s lead to three at 60-57, offset by a pair of makes from Johnson for the Wolverines (62-57, 10:47). Mason made a triple at 10:27 to trim the deficit to 2 points (62-60), answered at the other end by a layup from Cason to put Michigan up 64-60 with 10:09 to go. Wake rattled off the next four points to tie the game at 64-all with 8:45 remaining. Following a timeout by Michigan, Lendeborg scored on an alley-oop from Mara to get a lead back at 66-64 (8:32). Calmese converted on an and-1 opportunity at the 8:20 mark to help Wake Forest out to its first lead since the 9-minute mark of the first half at 67-66. Mara helped U-M take the lead back at 68-67 with 8 minutes to go.

Wake Forest would regain control and start to separate, though. A 7-0 run between the 6:42 and 5:12 mark pushed its lead out to 74-68 before a Mara basket got U-M back to within 4 as 74-70 with 4:58 to go. Mason hit a triple quickly after, helping the Deacons out to a 77-70 lead. Gayle split a pair of free throws at 4:14 to trim into the deficit and bring the game to 77-71.

Following the under-4 media timeout at 3:44, Mara hit a pair of free throws to cut the lead to 77-73, awakening a dormant crowd in Detroit. Cadeau split a pair of free throws with 2:41 to go to trim the Wake lead to 77-74. Gayle tied the game with a three-pointer from the right side with 1:48 to go, sending the LCA contingent into a frenzy. The score stood 77-all with 1:14 to go.

Cadeau gave Michigan the lead back by splitting a pair of foul shots (78-77, 1:14) before Wake Forest took the lead back on a triple from Colvin with 54 seconds to go. Cadeau tied the game with a layup with 36 seconds left, putting the score at 80-all. That is how regulation would end with a 5-minute overtime up next.

Michigan 80, Wake Forest 80

Overtime

Michigan struck first in overtime with a lob to Mara 17 seconds in, answered 17 seconds later by a putback for the Deacons to tie the game at 82 with 4:26 to go. Gayle gave U-M its lead back with a jump hook with 3:39 remaining to put the game at 84-82. Cooper Schweiger tied the game on a paint make with 1:54 to go, and the Demon Deacons would have the ball after a timeout called with 1:26 remaining. WF’s Mason missed a pair of free throws at 1:13 that kept the game tied.

Cadeau split a pair of free throws with 13 seconds to go, leading to a Wake Forest rebound the other way and a timeout with 6.6 seconds remaining. The Deacons got a bucket off, but missed at the buzzer, securing a Michigan victory.

FINAL: Michigan 85, Wake Forest 84

Michigan vs. Wake Forest final box score