Another OT victory: Smith's basket lifts Deacons by Terps in ACC thriller 85-83

Overtime games at home are getting to be a habit for Wake Forest, one the Deacons can live with -- quite well.

Ish Smith scored a tough basket in the lane with 20 seconds remaining in overtime to beat Maryland 85-83 for the Deacons' third straight overtime victory in Joel Coliseum. But the celebration had to wait until Maryland missed two late shots -- including a 3-point attempt by star Greivis Vasquez -- and a final inbound play was knocked away by Al-Farouq Aminu.

"I guess it's our resilience and doing whatever it takes to win the game," Smith said. "It's a tribute to the coach and it trickles all the way down to us. He challenged us before the game to see how tough we were and I think we met that challenge.

"If we have to go into overtime the rest of the 14 ACC games we will, just so we can get a win."

The coach in question, Dino Gaudio of Wake Forest, corrected Smith, saying that the Deacons actually have only 13 ACC games remaining.

"I hope we're 2-1," Gaudio said. The Deacons (12-3 overall), did indeed improve to 2-1 in the ACC by bouncing back from Saturday night's 67-66 loss at Miami.

Vasquez, a 6-6 senior, made his last trip to Joel Coliseum one to remember by pouring in a season-high 30 points, although he made nine of 27 shots from the floor. He also somewhat negated his seven assists by turning the ball over six times.

Aminu led the Deacons with 24 points, 13 rebounds, three blocks and two steals, freshman C.J. Harris made four of six 3-point attempts to score 18 points and Smith finished with 16 points and eight assists.

But at the time he hit the game winner, he had made seven of 22 shots from the floor.

Wake Forest also got vital contributions from senior Chas McFarland and freshman Ari Stewart. McFarland battled his way out of a recent slump to pull down 12 rebounds to go with eight points, and Stewart, after missing his first five field-goal attempts, made two clutch jumpers in overtime.

The first gave Wake Forest an 80-78 lead with 3½ minutes left, the second an 82-78 lead a minute later.

"That cat, he'll put them up," Gaudio said of Stewart. "I kid him, but I tell him if he's open I want him to shoot it. I don't want him looking over his shoulder."

After Aminu made one of two free throws with a minute remaining, Jordan Williams followed in a miss by Vasquez to tie the game at 83 with 52 seconds left.

Wake Forest ran the clock down inside five seconds on the shot clock and Smith drove into the lane on Eric Hayes, a 6-4 senior guard, and released a running eight-footer that bounced off the rim and through.

"First of all I shot it 23 times and that's way too much for me," Smith said. "My arm's a little sore. But I had missed so many chippy ones, Coach kept yelling at me, ‘Ish, kick it out, kick it out,' because I wasn't making my little floater.

"So I had to redeem myself and get a big basket."

Maryland called time and set up a play for Vasquez, who dribbled left of the key and fired a 3-pointer with 10 seconds remaining. The ball kicked out to Sean Mosley, who shot an uncontested 15 footer from the right side that bounced out of bounds off Stewart with a tenth of a second left.

Aminu knocked away the inbound pass to Mosley as time expired.

Maryland fell to 10-6 and 1-1 in ACC play.

"We tried to get Greivis coming off the inbounds play, coming off the handoff," Coach Gary Williams of Maryland said. "I guess they got two guys on him, and I guess he didn't see anybody open so he took the shot. That was the play.

"That's the way it goes, but you want to put the ball in the hands of your best player, if you can, in that situation, At least I do."

Maryland, playing its second game in three days, forced overtime by scoring on seven straight possessions down the stretch of regulation -- with four of the baskets being 3-point attempts. But Wake Forest survived the barrage by stopping Maryland's last possession when Mosley missed a 14-foot jumper over Stewart with three seconds later. Dino Gregory's follow shot missed, forcing overtime.

The Deacs then made a stand defensively, holding the Terps to two field goals and three free throws in nine overtime possessions.

"A big part of the overtime was they were hurting us with that down screen and quick ball screen on the left side," Gaudio said. "So the entire overtime we just switched all those screens. We just wanted to have a guy on a guy."

dcollins@wsjournal.com.



727-7323

MD Min FG-A FT-A OR-T A PF Pts

Milbourne 40 5-15 0-0 4-6 5 3 11

Williams 27 6-8 0-2 1-3 0 4 12

Hayes 32 3-4 0-0 1-5 3 2 8

Mosley 36 3-8 2-2 6-13 2 2 8

Vasquez 42 9-27 8-11 2-4 7 3 30

Bowie 19 2-3 5-6 2-4 1 0 10

Tucker 7 0-1 2-2 0-0 0 1 2

Gregory 15 0-2 2-2 1-4 0 5 2

Padgett 7 0-2 0-0 1-1 0 0 0

Totals 225 28-70 19-25 20-43 18 20 83

Percentages: FG .400, FT .760; 3-Point Goals: 8-18, .444 (Vasquez 4-12, Hayes 2-3, Milbourne 1-1, Bowie 1-1, Mosley 0-1); Team Rebounds: 3; Blocked Shots: 2 (Williams, Bowie); Turnovers: 15 (Vasquez 6, Mosley 4, Milbourne 2, Bowie, Gregory, Hayes); Steals: 8 (Bowie 3, Vasquez, Padgett, Gregory, Mosley, Milbourne); Technical Fouls: None.

WFU Min FG-A FT-A OR-T A PF Pts

Aminu 41 7-14 10-12 6-13 1 4 24

Weaver 4 0-0 0-0 1-2 0 0 0

Smith 42 8-23 0-0 0-2 8 2 16

Harris 37 6-9 2-2 0-1 1 2 18

Williams 21 2-6 1-2 3-4 1 5 6

Clark 8 1-3 3-3 1-1 0 1 5

McFarland 34 4-6 0-0 4-12 0 3 8

Stewart 27 2-7 0-0 1-3 1 3 4

Woods 11 2-2 0-1 1-2 0 1 4

Totals 225 32-70 16-20 17-41 12 21 85

Percentages: FG .457, FT .800; 3-Point Goals: 5-15, .333 (Harris 4-6, Williams 1-1, Clark 0-1, Aminu 0-2, Stewart 0-2, Smith 0-3); Team Rebounds: 1; Blocked Shots: 6 (Aminu 3, Woods 2, Smith); Turnovers: 16 (McFarland 3, Aminu 3, Woods 3, Williams 3, Harris 2, Stewart, Smith); Steals: 7 (Smith 2, Williams 2, Aminu 2, Stewart).

Maryland 39 37 7 -- 83


Wake Forest 42 34 9 -- 85

A--12,925