Deacons stun Zags in Spokane
by WakeJake on Dec 5, 2009 11:09 PM EST
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Wake Forest got huge contributions from its freshmen as the Deacs rallied from a sizable first half deficit to beat Gonzaga 77 to 75. Newcomers C.J. Harris and Ari Stewart made up for a disappointing game by Al-Farouq Aminu by tallying 19 and 17 points, respectively. Stewart nailed all four of his three point attempts, including one to give the Deacs the lead at the end of the first half, while Harris made 13 out of 15 free throws.
The turning point of the game was without a doubt when Elias Harris of Gonzaga forearmed center Chas McFarland in the throat while C.J. Harris was fouled shooting a three. As a result, Wake scored seven points on one possession and Elias Harris was ejected from the game.
This is a huge win for Wake Forest after struggling in losses against William & Mary and in the second half against Purdue. Furthermore, this is only Gonzaga's 4th loss at their home court since it opened in 2004.
The Zags were led by their star Matt Bouldin, who had 22 points, and surprise Bol Kong who made four big threes off the bench. The Deacs were also aided by a great all-around performance by Ish Smith, who led Wake Forest in rebounds (9), assists (8), steals (1) and blocks (1)
Wake Forest has exam week off and will face the Elon Phoenix next Sunday.
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Wake vs Gonzaga
Lucky Wake! My greatest frustration watching the end of this gamewas, once again, the dismal performance of #42 (Williams) , a senior. Supposedly the defensive ace of this team, I saw some horrendous mental mistakes in the closing, crucial minutes of the game, including not fighting through screens to stay on their leading offensive player (instead he switched twice to generate a serious mismatch for him and fello teammate), not pressuring the same player when he lost his dribble at the top of the key, almost receiving an intentional foul at midcourt instead of what was suppose to be a “going after the ball” foul, and freezing on the block during the last free-throw attempt that might have worked and tied the game. In addition, a missed jumper at the free-throw line was also a critical mistake that allowed the Zags to get so close near the end. These actions might go unnoticed by most fans, but they could have been critical. Moreover, I have seen this same type of performance by the same player in other close games, as well as his often Hollywood performance regarding so-called injuries.
I think the Deacs would have been better off with Stewart in the game, despite being a freshman. Maybe he had a better AAU coach than Williams??
A WIN
Why is it that some people have to find the negative. How about we take a few days and enjoy the win and the effort Wake’s coaches and players put forth. Great win for the Deacons.
by olddeac on Dec 6, 2009 10:36 AM EST reply actions 1 recs
As happy as I am with the win, we can still look at some of the negative aspects of the game. I said in the game thread at the end of the game Ari should have been in. It wasn’t that LD wasn’t fighting through screens, Weaver was just switching with him, which was probably a decision by the coaches I would think. If we are putting LD in the game it would be to man up on their toughest player, which wasn’t happening. Ari was on fire all night (which isn’t necessarily a sign he should take all the minutes or start, some nights people are just on) and with the defensive switching there was no real point in having LD in over Ari at the end.
Great game, Dino called in an awesome play to push the lead to three when it was just one, but there definitely some interesting decisions.
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