What began as a frolic turned into a fight, but Wake Forest got in enough licks from the free-throw line to finally score a 92-85 decision over pugnacious Boston College last night in front of 10,832 at Joel Coliseum.
"Your shot, it's not always going to go in," sophomore Al-Farouq Aminu said. "So you've got to figure out a way to win.
"We were able to go to the line and knock down our free throws all day, and we were able to step it up on defense and get a few stops."
The Deacons, after drilling 31 of their first 46 field-goal attempts on the way to a 75-56 lead, appeared headed to their first blowout victory over an ACC opponent all season. Little did they know that Gary Clark's 3-pointer that extended the lead to 19 with 10½ minutes remaining would be their final field goal of the night.
While Wake Forest was missing its final eight field-goal attempts, the Eagles, led by a career-high 31 points from stand-in Tyler Roche, carved the lead to eight with more than 5½ minutes remaining.
"They're a really tough team, so you knew they were going to fight," Aminu said. "They were not just going to go away. So the intensity went up."
The Deacons, who rank 10th in the ACC with a free-throw percentage of .653, saved their night by sinking 17 of their final 22 free throws to improve to 17-5 overall and 7-3 in ACC play. Aminu led the way with 22 points, eight rebounds and four blocks, Chas McFarland contributed 14 points and 11 rebounds, L.D. Williams scored 14 and Ish Smith had nine points, 11 assists and two steals.
The Eagles played without leading scorer Joe Trapani, who remained in Boston because of an illness. They hardly missed him on a night when Roche, a 6-7 senior reserve averaging 4.8 points a game in conference play, made 10 of 15 shots from the floor and six of eight from the 3-point line to keep BC within hailing distance.
"Joe being out obviously gave him an opportunity to get a lot of minutes tonight," Coach Al Skinner of BC said of Roche, who played 38 minutes. "He came in and more than filled that role. He had a terrific game. If a couple of other people had given the kind of effort he gave, we would have been OK."
Both Aminu and McFarland described the game as among the three most physical of the ACC season, with the others being at Duke and at Georgia Tech. The contentiousness was evident from the 48 fouls called against the teams, as well as technicals called against Coach Dino Gaudio and reserve center Tony Woods of Wake Forest.
"There's going to be some back and forth, especially with BC," Williams said. "Those guys are really physical and they're going to be in your face."
Woods was ejected after his part in an altercation that started between Williams and Corey Raji of BC with 9:36 remaining in the first half. Williams fouled Raji, who had something to say to Williams. After the two had been separated, Woods caught Raji with an elbow.
The officials, Ray Natili, Brian Dorsey and Mike Kitts, looked at the monitor, called the two coaches together and ejected Woods for a dead-ball, contact-flagrant technical foul.
"I did not see it at all," Gaudio said. "Ray came over to me and said, ‘Trust me, he hit them.' I go, ‘Ray, you say he hit him, he hit him.' I'm sure we'll see it on TV (last night).
"I went to Mike Kitts as we came out for the second half and I said, ‘Mike what's the impact on the next game?' He said, ‘No, he can play.' I'll be honest with you, I don't know what the rule is. But it wasn't a fight or a punch. It's my understanding, according to Mike, he's fine for Saturday."
Dorsey assessed the technical on Gaudio with 5:49 left when Gaudio left the coaches' box to protest a call.
The Deacons ripped BC's man-to-man defense in the first half, hitting 21 of 29 shots from the floor (72 percent) and scoring on 22 of 34 possessions.
"When a team shoots 70 percent, you're not offering much defensively." Skinner said.
But with Roche scoring 15 points in the first nine minutes and 17 for the half, BC trailed just 50-39 at halftime.
The points kept coming easily over the first 10 minutes of the second half for the Deacons, who made 10 of their first 17 shots after halftime. But then the basket, as big as it looked in the first 30 minutes, tightened up down the stretch as the Eagles increased their defensive intensity.
Wake Forest compensated at the free-throw line, with Aminu making 5 of 6, C.J. Harris 4 of 4 and Smith 3 of 4.
In their last game at Virginia, the Deacons made 11 of 23 foul shots.
"That's one thing we've worked on since Virginia, because we didn't shoot very well at Virginia," McFarland said. "So in practice we work on it, and we continue to work on it just like everything else.
"It's one thing that needs to get better as the year goes on."
dcollins@wsjournal.com.
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BC Min FG-A FT-A OR-T A PF Pts
Raji 35 7-14 3-4 5-10 2 1 17
Roche 38 10-15 5-8 2-7 1 3 31
Southern 11 0-0 1-2 0-1 1 3 1
Paris 15 2-4 0-0 1-1 3 4 4
Sanders 25 4-12 1-2 0-1 1 5 10
Jackson 25 6-15 3-4 4-5 3 1 17
Ravenel 10 0-0 1-2 0-3 0 5 1
Elmore 20 2-5 0-0 1-2 2 5 4
Dunn 21 0-2 0-1 1-2 1 1 0
Totals 200 31-67 14-23 15-33 14 28 85
Percentages: FG .463, FT .609; 3-Point Goals: 9-22, .409 (Roche 6-8, Jackson 2-7, Sanders 1-5, Paris 0-1, Elmore 0-1); Team Rebounds: 1; Blocked Shots: 1 (Ravenel); Turnovers: 10 (Roche 3, Jackson 2, Elmore 2, Ravenel, Raji, Sanders); Steals: 7 (Paris 2, Sanders 2, Elmore, Jackson, Raji); Technical Fouls: None.
WFU Min FG-A FT-A OR-T A PF Pts
Aminu 35 8-12 5-6 3-8 2 0 22
McFarland 30 4-8 6-10 2-11 1 3 14
Smith 38 3-7 3-4 0-3 11 0 9
Harris 25 1-4 4-4 0-0 2 4 7
Williams 23 6-7 2-3 2-3 3 5 14
Clark 14 3-3 3-4 0-0 0 1 11
Stewart 20 3-9 0-0 3-7 0 2 8
Weaver 9 2-2 0-0 0-0 0 4 5
Woods 6 1-2 0-0 0-1 0 1 2
Totals 200 31-54 23-31 10-34 19 20 92
Percentages: FG .574, FT .742; 3-Point Goals: 7-18, .389 (Clark 2-2, Stewart 2-6, Weaver 1-1, Aminu 1-2, Harris 1-4, Williams 0-1, Smith 0-2); Team Rebounds: 1; Blocked Shots: 6 (Aminu 4, Stewart, Weaver); Turnovers: 12 (Smith 3, Aminu 3, McFarland 2, Harris 2, Woods, Clark); Steals: 5 (Smith 2, Harris, Aminu, McFarland); Technical Fouls: Woods, Bench.
Boston College 39 46 -- 85
Wake Forest 50 42 -- 92
A--10,832
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