Wake Summer League Recap 7/20

Last night’s action at the Triad Summer Pro-Am brought back a couple Wake Forest stars of the past and some heated action in both gyms.  Overall, there seemed to be a higher level of intensity and effort than usual.  Click through for a recap of how the Deacs fared on the court…

Welcome back

In the second game of the evening, we expected to see Ish Smith and Ari Stewart, but were pleasantly surprised when Chris Paul and Justin Gray showed up to face them.  With the entire Wake coaching staff in attendance, Ari Stewart again go off to a fast start with a couple deep threes and a dunk.  On the defensive end, however, he was assigned the duty of guarding CP3 and picked up three cheap fouls on the baseline by the eight minute mark.  Paul did not have a spectacular showing, but showed off some fancy ball-handling and passes as he always seems to do.  J-Gray knocked down some threes in the second half to give his team the lead and eventual victory.  Smith could not get it going from deep, but had a couple very nice moves in traffic.  Overall, it was not his best showing either.  Near the end of the game Stewart made a few very difficult shots, including a fade away on the baseline and an and-one bank shot from about ten feet.  It wasn’t enough though as the Deacs of the past pulled out the victory.  It’s always great when those guys come back to play.

Undefeated no more

L.D. Williams and Ty Walker had a tough loss to the team from Guilford College.  They got down by ten early and were fighting back the entire game.  In the final minutes, L.D. Williams took over with a couple clutch threes and shots in the lane, but Ben Strong’s shot in the paint with under five seconds to play put his team on top for good.  Ty Walker had a chance to send the game into overtime, but missed a one hander in the lane as time expired.  His team wanted a foul on the play, but they did not get the call.  Overall, Walker was more active than we have seen him in previous games.  He had several dunks, scored on a couple post-up moves and ran the floor very well.

Other notes

David Weaver played well as he hit a few long range jumpers and, of course, had some big dunks as well.  His teammate Konner Tucker was not as effective tonight as we saw him in his previous two match-ups though. 

The team from Guilford beat Glasgow Insurance last week and, as previously noted, knocked off another undefeated team tonight.  They may be the favorite to win it all now.

Al-Farouq Aminu did not make it in time for his game.  However, when he arrived in the gym Ish Smith yelled up to him, "You guys have already played.  You won by one."  Aminu responded with a smile and a fist pump.

C.J. Harris was in Greensboro tonight playing in the N.C. All-Star Game.  We did not catch any of Chas McFarland, Tony Woods or Gary Clark in action.

Check back Friday for a report on Thursday night’s games!